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THE  VALUE  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 


THE  VALUE  OF 
SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 

Demonstrated  with  the  Zone  Plan  in  Rural  Schools 
By 

MARVIN  SUMMERS  PITTMAN 

Head  of  the  Department  of  Rural  Education 

Michigan  State  Normal  College 

Ypsilanti,  Michigan 


BALTIMORE 

WARWICK  &  YORK,  Inc. 

1^1 


// 


'^'^ 


Copyright,  1921,  By 
WARWICK  &  YORK,  Inc. 


AGRIC.  DEPT.     O^^Y^    ^^   '^'' 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

The  writer  is  indebted  to  many  people  for  assistance 
ii.  connection  with  the  experiment  upon  which  this 
discussion  is  based  and  the  formulation  of  the  data 
which  present  the  results  in  their  final  form.  He 
wishes  to  make  special  aacknowledgment  to  the  fol- 
lowing : 

Dr.  H.  W.  Foght,  President  of  the  Northern  Nor- 
mal and  Industrial  School,  Aberdeen,  S.  D.,  and 
Miss  Lucile  Trott,  County  Superintendent  of  Brown 
County,  for  their  administrative  .support  and  personal 
assistance ; 

Misses  Ida  Buchert,  Edna  Luke,  Martha  Pabst, 
Birdie  Williams,  Mildreth  Nolen,  Lennie  Cox,  Vivian 
Neiger,  Myrtle  Wineland,  Louise  Low,  Beulah  Wil- 
liams, Marie  Schrimpf,  Ida  Gunderson,  Alma  Wiedi- 
busch,  Bessie  Freeman  and  Mr.  R.  H.  Rhbades  for 
their  co-operation  as  the  teachers  of  the  schools  in 
which  the  experiment  was  conducted; 

Various  members  of  the  faculty  of  the  Northern 
Normal  and  Industrial  School  and  especially  Miss 
Ivy  Husband  and  Mr.  J.  W.  Thomas,  who  assisted  in 
administering  and  scoring  all  tests  and  without  whose 
help  the  experiment  would  have  been  practically  impos- 
sible ;  and 

Dr.  W.  C.  Bagley  for  constructive  criticism,  Dr. 
Fannie  Wyche  Dunne  for  most  constructive  sug- 
gestions and  criticism,  Dr.  Wm.  A.  McCall  for  his 


4706S4 


VI  THE  VALUE  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 

guidance  in  all  of  the  statistical  computation,  and 
Dr.  Frederick  G.  Bonser,  whq  served  as  chief  advisor 
to  the  writer  in  the  selection  of  the  problem,  the  field 
activities  of  the  experiment,  and  the  writing"  of  this 
book. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

Introduction  by  Frederick  G.  Bonser i 

Chapter   I.— The   Problem,   the   Method,   and   the 
ResuUs  Stated 

A.  The    Problem 5 

B.  The  Method 5 

C.  The  Results  and  Conclusions 6 

Chapter  II. — The  Determining  Conditions  of  the  Ex- 
periment, 

A.  The  Conditions  Required 9 

B.  Required    Conditions     Found    in     Brown 

County,  S.  D lo 

Chapter  III. — The  Equivalence  of  Groups 

A.  Locations  of  the  Two  Groups 12 

B.  Particulars   in  which  Groups  Were  Com- 

pared. 

1.  Types  of  Schools 13 

2.  Length  of  School  Term 14 

3.  Social    and    Economic    Status    of   Com- 

munities      14 

4.  Parentage      of      Children  —  Nationality, 

Education,  and  Wealth 15 

5.  Character  of  Teachers  Employed — Age, 

Education,  Experience,  Certification.  .  .    16 
Chapter  IV. — The  Zone  Plan  of  Supervision  Used 

A.  The  Zone  Plan  Defined 19 

B.  Calendar  of  Events  for  the  Year 19 

1.  Supervisory    Tours 20 

2.  Teachers'  Meetings   21 

vii 


Vlll  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

C.  A  Sample  Supervisory  Letter 23 

D.  What  the  Supervisor  Did  While  on  a  Tour  25 

E.  What  Was  Done  at  the  Group  Teachers' 

Meetings   30 

F.  Discussion    of    Teacher's    Classroom    and 

Demonstration  Teaching 37 

1.  The  Limitations  of  the  Individual  Con- 

ference     38 

2.  Advantages  of  the  Group  Conference. .  .  38 
Chapter  V. — Community  Activities  of  the  Super- 
visor 

A.  Visits  in  the  Homes  of  the  People 41 

B.  The  School  Newspaper  for  the  Zone 42 

C.  Social  Phases  of  the  Teachers'  Meetings.  .  44 

D.  The  "Health  and  Happiness"  Meetings.  ...  45 

E.  The  SpeUing  Matches 47 

F.  The  Crusade  Against  Gophers 49 

Chapter  VL — The  Statistical  Data  of  the  Experi- 
ment 

A.  The  Tests 51 

1.  Functions  Tested 51 

2.  Tests  and  Scales  Used 51 

3.  When  Tests  Were  Given 52 

4.  By  Whom  Tests  were  Administered 52 

5.  By  Whom  Tests  were  Scored 53 

B.  How  the  Data  Which  Used  were  Secured.  53 

C.  How  the  Data  Are  Presented 54 

D.  What  Tables  I-VH  Show 55 

Table       L     Third  Grade 57 

n.     Fourth  Grade 58 

in.     Fifth   Grade 59 

''        IV.     Sixth  Grade 60 


tABL^  OF  CONTENTS  IX 

V.     Seventh  Grade 6i 

VI.     Eighth  Grade 62 

VII.     Summary — All  Grades 63 

E.  What  Tables  VIII-XXI  Show   64 

Table      VIII.     Speed  in  Reading 65 

"             IX.     Speed  in  Answering  Ques- 
tions on  Reading 66 

"               X.     Index  of  Comprehension ...   67 
"             XI.     Number   of  Questions  An- 
swered Correctly  on  Al- 
pha 2   68 

XII.     Spelling    69 

"  XIII.     Composition 70 

"  XIV.     Speed  in  Penmanship 71 

"            XV.     Quality  in  Penmanship.  . .  .   ']2 
"          XVI.     Number  right  in  Addition .  .   73 
"        XVII.     Number  right  in  Subtraction  74 
"      XVIII.     Number  right  in  Multiplica- 
tion    75 

"         XIX.     Number  right  in  Division .  .   76 
"           XX.     Number  right  in  Fraction.  .   jy 
XXI.     Summary   of   Equated   Dif- 
ferences       78 

"       XXII.     Summary  of  Percentages  of 

Pupils   Improving 80 

F.  Summary  of  Statistical  Results 81 

Chapter  VII. — Other  Results  Not  Shown  by  the 

Standardized  Tests 

A.  Results  Indicated  by  the  Children 83 

B.  Results  Indicated  by  the  Patrons 84 

•C.  Results  Indicated  by  the  Teachers 89 

D.  Results  of  Special  Campaigns 91 


X  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

Chapter  VIII. — The   Results   of   Supervision  Re- 
stated and  EHscussed 

A.  The  Results   94 

1.  Amount  of  Superiority  of  Improvement     94 

2.  Monetary    Value    of    the     Supervisor's 

Service    100 

3.  Professional  Reading  of  Teachers loi 

4.  Effect  upon  School  Attendance loi 

5.  Efifect    upon    the    Progress    of    various 

Grades 102 

6.  Effect  upon  Retention  in  School  of  Older 

Pupils   103 

7.  Effect  upon  Social  Life  of  Community.  .104 

B.  Special    Related    Conclusions 104 

1.  Progress  in  Supervised  Subjects  not  Det- 

rimental to  Other  Subjects 104 

2.  Supervision    Must    Fix    Attention    upon 

Elements  to  Be  Improved 106 

C.  General  Conclusions  from  the  Entire  Study .  107 
Chapter    IX. — Further    Elaboration    of   the    Zone 

Plan  Looking  Toward  Its  Application 

A.  The  Sphere  of  the  Supervisor 109 

B.  The  Schedule  of  the  Supervisor's  Work..  112 

C.  The  Supervisor's  Assistants 119 

D.  The  Supervisor's  Use  of  Publicity 123 

Bibliography 127 


INTRODUCTION 

Among  all  of  the  forms  and  grades  of  schools  under 
public  administration,  there  are  none  as  much  in  need 
of  supervisory  guidance  and  help  as  the  district  schools 
in  the  open  country.  Such  schools  represent  the  most 
difficult  supervisory  problems  found  in  our  school  sys- 
tem. Country  schools  are  distant  from  each  other  and 
from  county  seats.  Country  roads  are  aften  poor.  To 
visit  country  schools  is  enormously  expensive  in  time, 
money,  and  energy.  It  is  difficult  to  bring  teachers 
together  frequently  for  group  conferences.  To  develop 
any  plan  by  which  supervision  of  country  schools  may 
be  made  more  efficient  and  at  an  expenditure  of  time 
and  money  which  does  not  make  it  prohibitive  is 
therefore  to  make  a  very  genuine  contribution  to  the 
progress  of  country  school  education. 

There  is  involved  here,  however,  a  very  fundamental 
question  as  to  the  values  of  school  supervision  itself. 
Under  whatever  plan  proposed,  is  supervision  worth 
its  cost.?  Hitherto  there  has  been  no  answer  to  this 
question  supported  by  adequate  evidence  in  concrete, 
scientific  form.  There  has  been  no  definite,  measurable 
comparison  of  the  progress  of  children  and  teachers 
who  were  supervised  and  of  those  who  were  unsuper- 
vised under  conditions  otherwise  the  same. 

The  two  problems,  that  of  the  worth  of  supervision 
and  that  of  a  plan  of  supervision  sufficiently  definite 
to  measure  the  results  of  its  operation  were  inseperably 
connected.     The  worth  of  supervision  could  not  be 

I 


2  THE  VALUE  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 

determined  without  an  adequate  plan  for  supervision, 
and  such  a  plan  could  not  be  tested  as  to  its  worth 
without  means  for  measuring  school  progress,  thereby 
ascertaining  whether  there  were  values  assignable  to 
the  supervision.  Fortunately,  we  have  now  reached  a 
point  in  the  development  of  measurements  in  some 
school  achievements  which  makes  comparisons  in  prog- 
ress possible. 

Professor  Pittman  has  succeeded  in  devising  a  "Zone 
Plan"  of  supervision  by  which  he  has  been  enabled  to 
supervise  a  group  of  representative  country  schools 
much  more  intensely  than  is  usual,  and  to  measure  the 
result  of  such  supervision.  For  comparison  he  has 
had  an  equally  representative  group  of  relatively  unsu- 
pervised schools  with  conditions  other  than  those  of 
supervision  approximately  the  same. 

The  results  are  highly  gratifying.  Positive  values 
of  supervision,  sufficiently  substantial  to  give  them 
much  weight  have  been  demonstrated.  The  plan 
devised  has  been  found  practicable  and  not  sufficiently 
expensive  to  make  it  prohibitive. 

While  the  advances  in  school  progress  clearly  assign- 
able to  supervision  constitute  the  most  definitely  scien- 
tific evidence  of  the  values  of  supervision,  the  evidences 
through  the  increased  interest  in  school  life  by  the 
children,  the  development  of  wider  cooperation  between 
home  and  school,  the  more  intelligent  and  sympathetic 
interest  of  parents  in  education,  and  the  enlarged 
professional  spirit  and  growth  of  the  teachers  are  all 
of  significance  in  attesting  the  values  of  the  work. 
These  evidences  are  not  yet  measurable  by  reference 
to  standards  as  are  gains  in  the  school  subjects  used 


INTRODUCTION  .  3 

EvS  bases  of  measurement.  But  that  such  evidences, 
when  described,  are  clearly  appreciable  as  quantitative- 
ly larger  than  the  same  types  of  interest  and  activity  in 
unsupervised  schools  adds  materially  to  the  sense  of 
value  of  supervision. 

In  the  plan  used,  there  are  elements  of  supervision 
which  are  distinctly  new  and  which  commend  them- 
selves as  highly  worth  while.  The  direct  contact  of 
the  supervisor  with  both  children  and  parents  as  well 
as  with  teachers  is  a  feature  of  supervision  in  which 
Professor  Pittman  has  made  a  pioneer  contribution. 
He  appealed  to  worthy  incentives  of  both  children  and 
parents  which  elicited  their  cooperation  and  support 
in  promoting  the  educational  progress  of  the  children 
and  the  community,  both  in  school  and  out  of  school. 
The  plan  which  he  devised  and  employed  makes  this 
possible  as  no  other  general  plan  of  county  or  district 
supervision  has  done.  The  experiment  has  therefore 
yielded  two  distinct  though  vitally  related  contribu- 
tions to  the  field  of  country  school  supervision— scien- 
tific evidence  that  supervision  has  positive  values  in  a 
degree  worth  while,  and  a  plan  that  is  both  practicable 
and  educationally  commendable. 

This  plan  of  supervision  requires  the  expenditure  of 
more  money  than  is  usually  devoted  to  rural  supervi- 
sion. But  this  is  also  true  of  any  plan  of  successful 
supervision  of  rural  schools.  There  are  very  few  coun- 
ties or  districts  in  the  United  States  in  which  there  is 
an  adequate  number  of  supervisors  to  give  proper  help 
to  the  schools  under  any  plan.  By  this  Zone  Plan, 
together  with  the  methods  of  supervision  employed  by 
Professor  Pittman,  the  cost  would  be  as  low  as  that 


4  THE  VALXJE  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 

of  any  plan  yet  devised,  and  it  has  the  virtue  of  tested 
efficiency  which  gives  reasonable  promise  that  the 
money  spent  will  bring  results  well  worth  all  that  they 
cost. 

District,  county,  and  state  superintendents  should 
find  this  study  of  great  value  in  working  out  their 
problems  of  rural  supervision.  The  evidence  which 
it  contains  should  help  them  materially  in  convincing 
the  authorities,  whose  financial  support  they  must 
secure,  of  the  values  of  supervision  and  of  the  practi- 
cability of  a  plan  that  has  been  found  to  work  with 
demonstrated  success.  The  experiment  and  its  results 
inspire  one  with  optimism  and  a  renewed  hope  that 
the  difficult  and  pressing  problem  of  rural  supervision 
has  been  brought  very  near  to  a  satisfactory  solution. 

The  country  schools  and  the  country  school  authori- 
ties are  placed  under  great  obligation  to  Professor 
Pittman  for  his  plan  and  the  demonstration  of  its 
efficiency.  All  interested  in  elementary  school  super- 
vision are  indebted  to  the  study  as  furnishing  positive 
evidence  of  the  values  of  supervision  in  terms  that 
are  measurable  and  in  degrees  of  worth  sufficient  to 
justify  its  reasonable  cost. 

FREDERICK  G.  BONSER 

Teachers  College, 

Columbia  University 


Chapter  I 

THE  PROBLEM,  THE  METHOD,  AND  THE 

RESULTS  STATED 

A.  THE  PROBI.EM 

Does  the  supervision  of  schools  pay?  If  so,  to  what 
extent,  in  what  ways  and  under  vv'hat  condition? 

These  are  questions  which  the  school  administrators, 
the  teachers  and  the  taxpayers  of  America  have  been 
asking  with  increasing  earnestness  and  frequency  dur- 
ing recent  years. 

With  a  view  to  giving  at  least  partial  answers  to 
these  important  educational  questions,  the  investiga- 
tion aiscussed  in  the  following  pages  was  undertaken. 
Since  it  was  necessary  to  limit  the  scope  of  the  inves- 
tigation, it  was  restricted  to  the  following  question : 

What  is  the  effect  of  supervision  upon  the  work  of 
rural  schools  zvhcn  the  supervision  is  done  according 
to  the  Zone  Plan? 

(The  Zone  Plan  will  be  described  later) 

B.  THE  METHOD 

The  equivalent  groups  method  was  used  in  conduct- 
ing the  experiment  upon  which  this  discussion  is  based. 
The  method  is  a  familiar  one  to  those  acquainted  with 
educational  investigation.  To  others  it  is  sufficient  to 
say  that  two  groups  whose  equivalence  is  determined, 
or  whose  difference  is  evaluated  and  allowed  for,  are 
compared  in  their  ability  to  perform  certain  work. 
Ideally,  the   only  element  of  difference  between  the 

5 


6  THE  VALUE  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 

two  groups  is  the  one  factor,  the  effect  of  which  is 
being  tested.  In  practice,  this  cannot  always  be  abso- 
lutely the  case  but  the  differences  can  be  determined 
in  advance  of  the  experiment  and  taken  into  account 
in  evaluating  the  results. 

In  this  experiment  the  standings  of  the  children  in 
thirteen  school  functions  were  determined  in  the  early 
days  of  October  191 9  for  both  groups,  the  experimen- 
tal (the  group  under  investigation)  and  the  control 
(the  group  with  which  the  experimental  was  com- 
pared). This  was  followed  by  seven  months  of  super- 
vision of  the  school  work  of  the  experimental  group 
only.  The  standings  of  the  two  groups  were  again 
determined  in  May,  1920.  The  differences  in  the 
amounts  of  improvements  made  by  the  two  groups  in 
the  functions  under  investigation  during  the  interven- 
ing seven  months  were  credited  to  the  effect  of  super- 
vision. 

C.      THE  RESULTS  AND  CONCLUSIONS 

I.  Results.  The  results  of  supervision  in  the  ex- 
periment hereafter  described  were  positive  in  the  par- 
ticulars and  to  the  extent  stated  below: 

(a)  Children  in  the  supervised  schools,  when 
measured  by  equated  differences  and  by  percentages 
of  progress  of  the  experimental  group  measured  in 
terms  of  progress  of  the  control  group,  advanced 
approximately  194  per  cent,  as  far  during  the  seven 
months  in  the  particular  functions  under  investigxation 
as  did  the  children  with  whom  they  were  compared. 

(b)  Upon  this  as  a  basis  and  assuming  the  social 
value  of  this  type  of  educational  material,  the  value  of 


THE  PROBIvE^M  7 

the  service  of  one  supervisor,  who  would  produce  such 
a  difference  in  the  total  results  of  the  school  work  for 
forty-five  schoolrooms  similar  to  those  supervised, 
would  be  $45,102.15  per  school  year  for  that  service 
alone. 

(c)  The  teachers  under  supervision  did,  approxi- 
mately, four  times  as  much  professional  reading  as 
they  themselves  had  done  during  the  previous  year  and 
four  times  as  much  as  the  group  of  teachers  with  whom 
they  were  compared  during  the  year  of  the  experiment, 

(d)  The  average  attendance,  measured  in  terms  of 
total  enrollment,  was  76  per  cent  for  the  year  in  the 
supervised  schools  as  against  70.7  per  cent,  in  the 
unsupervised  schools. 

(e)  In  the  schools  under  supervision  all  of  the 
children  in  the  grades  from  three  to  eight,  inclusive, 
made  excellent  progress  with  greater  gains  usually  in 
the  lower  grades.  In  the  schools  not  having  super- 
vision, the  children  in  the  grades  below  the  seventh 
did  not  make  the  progress  which  might  have  been 
expected  if  the  progress  of  the  seventh  and  eighth 
grades  were  taken  as  a  standard  by  which  to  compare 
them. 

(f)  Supervision  served  to  keep  in  school  children 
who  were  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  grades.  Of  the 
children  who  entered  those  grades  of  the  supervised 
schools,  92  per  cent  continued  in  school  to  the  end  of 
the  year.  In  the  unsupervised  schools,  only  69  per 
cent  completed  the  school  year. 

(g)  Supervision  promoted  the  social  life  of  the 
community. 


8  THE  value;  of  school  supervision 

2.    'Supplementary  Related  Conclusions. 

(a)  While  supervision  gave  positive  results  in  sub- 
jects supervised,  it  did  not  interfere  with  the  progress 
of  subjects  not  especially  supervised. 

(b)  In  order  to  get  the  best  results  from  super- 
vision, the  attention  of  all  concerned  must  be  centered 
upon  the  particular  phases  which  it  is  desired  to 
improve. 


Chapter  II 

DETERMINING  CONDITIONS  OF  THE 

EXPERIMENT 

A.    the;  conditions  required 

Having  decided  to  test  the  value  of  supervision  of 
rural  schools,  to  find  a  suitable  place  for  conducting 
the  experiment  was  the  first  problem  which  confronted 
the  writer.  Three  conditions  seemed  necessary  in 
order  that  the  experiment  might  result  in  a  successful 
performance,  provide  reliable  data,  and  yield  results 
of  educational  significance.  These  three  conditions 
were: 

1.  The  supervisor  must  have  freedom  to  conduct 
the  experiment  according  to  conditions  necessary  for 
its  scientific  success.  For  this,  two  groups  of  schools 
having  practical  equivalence  in  all  particulars,  except 
the  one  factor  of  supervision,  were  required.  What 
was  done  with  the  supervised  schools  should  not  be 
known  or  copied  by  the  unsupervised  schools. 

2.  The  co-operative  assistance  of  competent  edu- 
cators was  necessary  at  the  time  of  administering  and 
scoring  the  tests. 

3.  A  territory,  genuinely  rural  in  character,  was 
desired.  The  schools  should  be  small,  far  apart,  and 
taught  by  teachers  no  more  efficient  than  the  average 
rural  teachers  of  the  nation.  The  weather  conditions 
should  be  such  as  to  test  the  determination  of  the  super- 
visor. The  travel  conditions  should  be  as  difficult  as 
that  confronting  the  average  supervisor  of  rural 
schools  in  any  section  of  America. 

9 


10  THE  VAI,ue  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 

B.      THE  REQUIRED  CONDITIONS  FOUND  IN  BROWN  COUN- 
TY, SOUTH   DAKOTA 

All  of  the  conditions  set  forth  above  were  happily 
met  in  Brown  County,  South  Dakota. 

1.  Through  the  co-operation  ot  Miss  Lucile  Trott, 
the  county  superintendent  of  schools,  the  writer  was 
privileged  to  conduct  the  experiment  according  to  con- 
ditions mentioned  in  **A"  above.  Because  of  the  large 
number  of  schools  in  the  county  and  the  lack  of  field 
deputies,  Miss  Trott  was  unable  to  make  more  than 
one  visit  to  each  school  during  the  year.  This  visit 
was  made  to  the  supervised  and  unsupervised  schools 
alike.  No  other  supervisory  assistance  was  given  by 
the  superintendent  to  the  schools  of  either  group  except 
that  which  was  given  through  the  regular  institutes 
which  were  given  to  all  teachers  alike.  Miss  Trott 
very  kindly  gave  permission  to  work  with  the  teachers 
and  children  in.  any  way  which  would  improve  the 
character  of  the  work. 

2.  Through  the  co-operative  assistance  of  President 
H.  W.  Foght  and  the  faculty  of  the  Northern  Normal 
and  Industrial  School  and  of  the  county  superintendent, 
sufficient  competent  assistance  was  provided  for  admin- 
istering the  tests  and  scoring  the  papers.  This  assist- 
ance was  rendered  at  such  times  and  in  such  quantities 
as  to  give  the  most  reliable  statistical  data. 

3.  Brown  County,  outside  of  the  town  of  Aberdeen, 
is  genuinely  rural  territory.  A  vf^ry  large  percentage 
of  the  schools  of  the  county  are  one-teacher  schools. 
They  are  located,  on  an  average,  about  four  miles 
apart.  The  one-teacher  schools  have  an  enrollment  of 
from  six  to  twenty  pupils  with  an  average  of  about 


CONDITIONS  OF  THE  EXPERIMENT  II 

twelve.  The  teachers  of  these  schools  are  usually 
young  with  limited  training  and  experience.  In  order 
that  the  travel  conditions  in  Brown  County  during  the 
year  of  the  experiment  may  be  known,  the  following 
facts  are  given :  The  temperature  ranged  continuously 
below  fieezing  from  October  25th  to  March  20th.  A 
zero  temperature  or  lower  was  registered  during  much 
of  the  time.  The  roads  were  impassable  for  anything 
but  sleighs  during  several  weeks  of  this  time  because 
of  drifted  snow.  Travel  was  very  difficult  during  the 
first  month  after  the  spring  thaw. 


Chapter  III 
THE  EQUIVALENCE  OF  GROUPS 

A.  LOCATION    OF   TWO   GROUPS    COMPARED 

Two  groups  of  schools  located  in  Brown  County 
were  selected  for  comparison.  One  group,  known 
throughout  this  discussion  as  the  experimental  group, 
was  composed  of  fifteen  schoolrooms  located  south  of 
Aberdeen.  Another  group,  known  throughout  this 
discussion  as  the  control  group,  consisted  of  twenty- 
five  schoolrooms  located  north  of  Aberdeen.  The 
writer  was  told  by  the  county  superintendent  that  in 
so  far  as  she  could  tell  the  two  groups  were  very  much 
alike,  with  no  advantage  to  either.  They  were  arbi- 
trarily selected,  therefore,  being  the  fifteen  schoolrooms 
most  closely  situated  to  each  other  in  the  one  group 
and  the  twenty-five  schoolrooms  most  closely  situated 
to  each  other  in  the  other  group.  The  schools  which 
formed  the  experimental  group  were  located  within 
an  area  whose  measure  was  eight  miles  by  twelve 
miles.  The  schools  which  formed  the  control  group 
were  within  an  area  whose  extent  was  about  twice  the 
size  of  that  of  the  experimental  group. 

B.  PARTICULARS  IN  WHICH  GROUPS  WERE  COMPARED 

In  order  to  determine  the  extent  of  equivalence  of 
the  schools  which  formed  the  two  groups,  comparisons 
were  made  in  the  following  particulars: 

1.  Types  of  schools. 

2.  Length  of  school  terms. 

3.  Social  and  economic  status  of  communities. 

12. 


the:  equivalence  of  groups  13 

4.  Parentage  of  children — nationality,  educa- 

tion, wealth. 

5.  Character  of  teachers  employed — age,  edu- 

cation, experience,  certification  and  sal- 
ary. 

I.  Types  of  Schools — Of  the  fifteen  schoolrooms 
in  the  experimental  group,  eleven  were  one-teacher 
schools,  four  were  in  two-teacher  schools.  Of  the 
twenty-five  schoolrooms  in  the  control  group,  fifteen 
were  one-teacher  schools,  ten  were  in  two-teacher 
schools.  From  another  study  made  by  comparing  the 
work  in  all  of  the  one-teacher  schools  in  the  two  groups 
with  the  work  in  all  of  the  two-teacher  schools,  the 
writer  found  that  the  work  in  the  two-teacher  schools 
was  superior  to  that  in  the  one-teacher  school. 

The  study  upon  which  this  conclusion  was  based 
compared  194  children  in  twenty-eight  one-teacher 
schools  with  182  children  in  fourteen  schoolrooms  in 
two-teacher  schools.  The  children  were  compared  by 
one  test  in  each  of  thirteen  functions.  Out  of  a  total  of 
seventy-eight  median  scores,  the  scores  of  the  two- 
teacher  school  group  were  equal  or  superior  to  the 
scores  of  the  one-teacher  school  group  fifty-eight  times. 

From  the  results  of  this  related  study  of  the  same 
children  who  are  involved  in  the  expperiment  under 
discussion,  the  writer  concludes  that  whatever  advan- 
tage there  was  to  one  of  the  groups — the  experimental 
or  the  control — the  advantage  in  this  particular  was 
with  the  control  group.  This  is  true  because  a  larger 
percentage  of  the  children  of  the  control  group  was 
in  two-teacher  schools  than  there  was  in  the  schools 
of  the  experimental  group. 


14  THE  VALUE  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 

» 

Considered  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  amount  of 
taxable  property  supporting  each  child  in  school,  the 
schools  of  the  control  group  were  also  better  situated. 
For  each  child  enrolled  in  the  schools  of  the  experi- 
mental group,  there  was  assessed  property  to  the  extent 
of  $26,940.00,  while  for  the  children  of  the  control 
group  there  was  a  property  valuation  for  each  child 
of  $32,310.00,  giving  an  advantage  to  the  control 
group  of  $5,362.00  per  child. 

2.  Length  of  School  Terms — The  control  group 
had  considerable  advantage  in  the  length  of  school 
terms.      Seventy-six   per   cent   of   the   schools  of  the 

-control  group  had  nine  months  terms  while  only  sixty 
per  cent  of  the  schools  in  the  experimental  group  had 
nine  months  terms.  All  of  the  other  schools  of  both 
groups  had  eight  months  terms.  The  effect  of  longer 
school  terms  of  previous  years,  taken  with  other  fac- 
tors of  superiority,  was  quite  evident  at  the  time  of 
the  initial  tests,  the  median  scores  of  the  children  in 
the  control  group  almost  uniformly  ranging  higher 
than  that  for  the  children  of  like  rank  in  the  experi- 
mental group. 

3.  Social  and  Economic  Status  of  Communities — 
The  social  and  economic  status  of  the  people  living 
in  the  areas  which  formed  the  two  groups  was  very 
similar.  To  a  casual  observer  there  was  practically  no 
difference.  From  the  data  quoted  under  the  last  topic, 
ic  appears  that  there  was  more  wealth  per  child  in  the 
area  of  the  control  group.  This  was  not  perceptible 
to  a  superficial  observer.  There  were  five  communi- 
ties in  the  control  group  where  the  people  were  closely 
enough  associated  to  make  two-teacher  schools  possi- 


THS   EQUIVALENCE  OF  GROUPS  1 5 

ble,  but  since  the  area  favored  was  fully  twice  that  of 
the  experimental  group  area,  the  advantage  in  this 
particular  was  slight.  The  people  living  in  the  two 
groups  were  removed  about  an  equal  distance  from 
Aberdeen,  the  nearest  trading  center.  There  seems, 
therefore,  no  commercial  advantage  to  either  group. 

The  social  life  of  the  people,  outside  of  that  provided 
by  business  contact,  consisted  chiefly  of  parties  held 
at  the  homes  of  the  people  and  of  religious  services 
conducted  at  the  little  centers  of  population.  At  no 
place  in  either  area  was  there  a  very  progressive  social 
or  religious  organization  which  caused  it  to  be  a 
source  of  special  influence.  Taking  all  of  the  influ- 
ences combined  in  each  group,  but  slight  advantage  to 
either  group  could  be  seen. 

4.  Parentage  of  the  Children — nationality,  educa- 
tion,  wealth — The  people  of  Brown  County  are  largely 
of  German  extraction.  To  the  German  element  may 
be  added  about  an  equal  number  of  people  of  Scan- 
dinavian and  of  English  origins.  The  two  sections  of 
the  county  used  in  this  experimem:  seem  to  differ  very 
little  in  this  particular.  While  there  was  an  occasional 
school  district  in  which  the  people  were  almost  exclu- 
sively of  German,  Scandinavian,  or  English  origin, 
usually  there  was  a  population  composed  of  represent- 
atives of  each  nationality. 

The  educational  equipment  of  the  people  of  the 
county  is  quite  limited.  Probably  the  fourth  or  fifth 
grade  standard  would  be  the  average  for  the  academic 
equipment  for  the  adults  of  the  rural  sections  in  both 
groups  studied.  Of  course  there  were  exceptions. 
There  were   some   men   with  high   school   or   college 


l6  THE  VALUE  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 

training,  but  they  were  very  few.  A  number  of  the 
women  of  the  rural  communities  had  been  teachers 
before  they  were  married.  These  few  better  educated 
people  could  be  found  in  each  of  the  groups  studied  but 
in  neither  were  they  sufficiently  plentiful  to  perceptibly 
affect  the  results. 

In  each  of  the  groups,  the  people  were  financially 
comfortable.  No  extereme  poverty  was  anywhere 
manifest.  Exactly  fifty  percent  of  the  patrons  of  the 
schools  in  each  group  owned  their  homes.  The  other 
fifty  per  cent,  were  renters.  It  was  not  evident  to  the 
casual  observer  who  were  renters  ^-nd  who  were  owners 
of  land.  Some  difference  might  be  observed  if  the 
condition  of  the  farm  and  residential  upkeep  were 
taken  into  consideration.  It  was  not  evident,  though, 
tc  anyone  who  met  the  people  at  public  gatherings  or 
who  observed  the  children  in  the  schools.  The  renter 
dressed  just  as  well,  rode  in  just  as  good  an  automo- 
bile, and  used  language  that  was  just  as  nearly  correct 
as  did  the  average  land  owner.  Practically  all  of  the 
people  were  progressing  from  renters  to  owners,  the 
younger  people  usually  being  the  renters. 

5.  Character  of  Teachers — Age,  education,  experi- 
ence, certification  and  salary — Important  as  are  the 
four  preceding  topics  discussed,  not  one  of  them  is  so 
important,  possibly,  to  the  reliability  of  the  experiment 
as  is  that  of  the  teacher.  Here,  again,  we  shall  see 
that  whatever  advantage  there  is  to  one  of  the  groups 
of  schools  arising  out  of  the  character  of  the  teachers 
employed,  that  advantage  accrues  to  the  control  group, 
rather  than  to  the  experimental. 

As  is  the  case  throughout  the  entire  nation,  so  in 


THE   EQUIVALENCE   OE   GROUPS      ■  IJ 

Brown  County,  South  Dakota,  it  is  the  young  teachers 
who  teach  in  the  rural  districts.  In  practically  every 
one-teacher  school  in  both  the  experimental  and  con- 
trol groups,  a  teacher  was  in  charge  who  was  doing 
her  first,  second,  or  third  year  of  teaching.  After  two 
or  three  years  of  experience  the  rural  teacher  usually 
marries  or  becomes  a  teacher  in  a  school  of  more  than 
one  room.  Such  was  the  case  in  the  two  groups  of 
this  experiment.  In  no  case  was  a  teacher  doing  her 
first  year  of  teaching  in  a  two-teacher  school.  Since 
there  was  a  higher  percentage  of  teachers  in  two- 
teacher  schools  in  the  control  group  than  in  the  experi- 
mental, it  follows  that  in  general  a  more  mature  group 
of  teachers  were  teaching  in  the  control  than  in  the 
experimental  group. 

The  median  educational  training  for  the  teachers  of 
the  experimental  group  was  4.2  years  above  the  eighth 
grade,  while  the  average  was  3.74  years.  The  median 
for  the  control  group  was  4.36  year§  above  the  eighth 
grade,  while  the  average  was  4  years.  Here  again  we 
see  that  the  control  group  of  teachers  had  a  slight 
advantage. 

The  median  experience  of  the  experimental  group 
was  2  years,  that  is,  the  median  teacher  of  the  group 
was  then  teaching  her  second  year.  The  average  for 
this  group  was  4.74,  due  to  the  fact  that  one  teacher 
in  the  group,  Mr.  Rhoades,  was  teaching  his  twenty- 
sixth  year.  This  one  case  of  long  experience  removed 
the  average  very  far  from  the  median  of  the  group. 
The  median  experience  of  the  teachers  in  the  control 
group  was  2.33  years.  The  average  was  4  years. 
These  facts  would  seem  to  give  a  slight  advantage  to 


i8  the:  value:  of  school  supervision 

the  control  group  since  the  median  teacher  of  that 
group  had  had  one-third  of  a  year  of  experience  more 
than  had  the  median  teacher  of  the  experimental  group. 

In  the  matter  of  certification,  the  experimental  group 
had  a  slight  advantage,  since  46  per  cent  of  the  teachers 
held  first  grade  certificates  and  54  per  cent  of  them 
held  second  grade  certificates,  v>/hile  in  the  control 
group  only  36  per  cent  held  first  grade  certificates  and 
64  per  cent  held  second  grade  certificates. 

The  salaries  of  the  teachers  average  $96,25  per  month 
for  those  in  the  experimental  group  and  $94.50  for 
those  in  the  control  group.  This  advantage  is  possibly 
due  to  considerable  increases  received  by  some  of  the 
teachers  of  the  experimental  group  during  the  year — 
due  possibly  to  the  interest  resulting  from  the  experi- 
ment itself. 

Summing  up  all  of  the  conditions  considered  under 
our  study  of  equivalence  of  groups,  we  see  that  the 
differences  are  not  very  great.  The  two  groups  seemed 
to  be  equivalent  in  the  nationality  and  educational 
equipment  of  the  people.  Their  social  and  commercial 
opportunities  seemed  not  to  differ  perceptibly.  The 
percentages  of  land  owners  and  land  renters  were  equal 
in  the  two  groups. 

The  experimental  group  was  superior  in  the  certi- 
fication and  salary  of  the  teachers. 

The  control  group  had  the  advantage  in  having  a 
higher  percentage  of  two-teacher  schools  and  a  higher 
percentage  of  its  pupils  in  two-teacher  schools.  The 
control  group  had  more  taxable  property  for  the  sup- 
port of  each  educatble  child  and  a  slightly  longer 
school  term.  The  teachers  of  the  group  had  more 
academic  equipment  and  more  experience. 


Chapter  IV 
THE  ZONE  PLAN  OF  SUPERVISION  USED 

A.  the:  zone  plan  defined 

A  plan  of  supervision  in  which  the  supervisor  divides 
his  entire  supervisory  district  into  territorial  units, 
each  of  which  serves  as  the  territoral  Hmits  for  one 
week  of  supervisory  effort  has  been  designated  by  the 
writer  as  the  zone  plan.  The  purpose  back  of  such 
territorial  organization  is  to  provide  for  systematic 
superivison  of  classroom  instruction,  for  convenient, 
effective,  and  democratic  teachers'  meetings,  and  for 
the  development  of  a  community  consciousness  on  the 
part  of  rural  communities  with  a  view  to  inspiring  and 
facilitating  more  effective  social,  educational  and  com- 
mercial action.  Such  a  plan  was  used  in  this  experi- 
ment. Since  only  one  week  out  of  each  month  was 
used  by  the  writer  for  field  service  in  the  capacity  of 
supervisor  in  the  performance  of  the  experiment,  only 
one  zone  was  used.  If  full  time  had  been  devoted  to 
the  experiment,  three  zones  of  about  equal  territorial 
area  and  number  of  teachers  would  have  been  taken  as 
the  supervisory  load. 

B.  CALENDAR  OF  EVENTS  FOR  THE  YEAR 

The  zone  plan  of  supervision  implies  a  calendar  of 
the  major  events  for  the  year's  work.  A  college 
announces  its  calendar  of  events  a  year  in  advance. 
Why  should  not  a  supervisory  district  do  so?  Such  a 
calendar  was  made  for  the  zone  in  which  this  experi- 
ment was  conducted.     The  calendar  was  made  in  the 

19 


20  THE  VALUE  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 

early  days  of  September  and  carried  out  exactly  as 

planned  without  the  change  of  a  single  major  item. 

Many  minor  details  were  introduced  from  month  to 

month.    The  major  plans  and  dates  for  the  year  gave 

stability  and  continuity  to  the  work.    The  minor  plans 

and  dates  provided  variety  and  freshness. 

The  major  events  of  the  zone  calendar  consisted  of 

(i)    supervisory   tours   and    (2)    teachers'   meetings. 

The  calendar  as  made,  announced  and  carried  out  with 

only  a  single  exception  was  as  follows : 

I.     Supervisory    Tours 

Sept.  28h  to  Oct.  loth.; Initial  survey  of  the  experi- 
mental and  control  groups  of 
schools. 

Oct.  27th  to  Nov.  1st First  supervisory  tour.  Im- 
provement in  the  speed  and 
comprehension  of  silent  read- 
ing. 

Nov.  17th  to  Nov.  22nd Second  supervisory  tour.  Lan- 
guage :  The  elimination  of 
spoken  errors. 

Dec.  15th  to  Dec.  19th Third  supervisory  tour.  Spell- 
ing: agricultural  words  as  an 
agency  for  awakening  a  com- 
munity interest  in  schools  and 
developing  a  group  conscious- 
ness. 
Jan.  i8th  to  Jan  23rd Fourth  supervisory  tour.  Arith- 
metic :  how  to  teach  the  four 
fundamental    operations. 

Feb.  15th  to  Feb.  19th Fifth  supervisory  tour.  Read- 
ing :  how  to  secure  effective 
oral  reading. 
March  15th  to  March  19th Sixth  supervisory  tour.  Lan- 
guage: how  to  develop  a  love 
for  good  literature.  Health: 
how  to  develop  the  habits  of 
health. 

April  nth  to  April  17th Seventh        supervisory        tour. 

Spelling:  forming  the  habit  of 
correctly  spelling  the  words 
most  often  used. 


The  zone;  plan  of  supervision  21 


2.     Teachers'  Meetings 

Oct.  4th— First  Meeting— at  Warner  10  A.  M.  to  3  P.  M. 

(a)  Grading  some  standard  test  papers  in  reading  and 
interpreting  the  scores. 

(b)  Noon. 

(c)  Reading  demonstration  by  supervisor  suggesting 
methods  of  increasing  speed  and  comprehension  in 
reading. 

(d)  Discussion  of  demonstration, 

Nov.    1st — Second   Meeting — at   Rondell   No.    5,    10   A.    M, 
to  3  P.  M. 

(a)  Demonstrations  in  reading  by  three  teachers 
showing  their  methods  of  improving  speed  and 
comprehension. 

(b)  Discussion  of  questions  on  reading  developed 
during  the  month. 

(c)  Language  demonstration  by  supervisor, 

(d)  Discussion    of    demonstration. 

(e)  Noon — Community  dinner. 

(f)  Brief  talk  by  supervisor  explaining  the  plans  for 
year. 

(g)  Songs  by  children, 
(h)     Readings  by  teachers. 

Nov,    22nd — Third    Meeting — at    Highlands,    10    A.    M.    to 
3   P.   M. 

(a)  Language  teaching  demonstrations  by  three 
teachers. 

(b)  Discussion  of  language  problems  arising  during 
month. 

(c)  Spelling  teaching   demonstration — Supervisor. 

(d)  Discussion  of  demonstration. 

(e)  Language  games  conducted  by  the  children. 

(f)  Book  Reviews — "The  Brown  Mouse"  and  "The 
Fair  View  Idea,"  by  teachers. 

(g)  Humorous  readings — Supervisor, 
(h)     Group  singing. 

Dec.  19th — Fourth  Meeting — at  Warner,  10  A.  M.  to  3.  P.  M. 

(a)  Brief  reports  of  language  work  by  teachers. 

(b)  Brief  demonstration  by  supervisor  of  methods  of 
teaching  fundamental  operations  in  arithmetic. 

(c)  Community  spelling  match  in  the  spelling  of 
agricultural  words^ 

(d)  Noon.     Zone  Community  Dinner. 

(e)  Zone  champions  for  each  subject  and  grade  in- 
troduced. 

(f)  Two  minute  stunts  by  each  school  in  the  zone. 


^5  the;  value;  of  school  supe:rvision 


(g)     Brief   addresses  by  visiting  educators. 
Jan.  24th — Fifth  Meeting— at  Warner  No.  i,  10  A.  M.  to  3  P.M. 

(a)  Two  arithmetic  demonstrations  by  teachers. 

(b)  Discussion  of  questions  on  arithmetic  arising  dur- 
ing the  month. 

(c)  Demonstration    by    supervisor    in    teaching    oral 
reading. 

(d)  Discussion    of    demonstration. 

(e)  Noon.     Community   Dinner. 

(f)  Penmanship  demonstration  by  specialist. 

(g)  Program  by  children. 

Feb.   2ist — Sixth   Meeting — at  Warner,    No.   2,    10   A.    M.   to 
3  P.  M. 

(a)  Demonstrations  of  teaching  oral  reading  by  three 
teachers. 

(b)  Discussion  of  questions  arising  during  the  month 
on  the  teaching  of  oral  reading, 

(c)  Demonstration:  How  to  memorize  a  poem.     Miss 
Gallager. 

(d)  Demonstration :    How  to  tell  a  story — Miss  Wil- 
hams. 

(e)  Noon.     Community  Dinner. 

(f)  Discussion:     What   I  think  of  supervision.     The 
teachers, 

(g)  Discussion :     What  I   think  of  supervision.     The 
patrons. 

(h)     Discussion:     What   I   think  of  supervision.     The 
supervisor. 
Mar.  20th — Seventh  Meeting — at  Warner  No.  6,   10  A.   M. 
to  3  P.  M. 

(a)  Language      teaching      demonstrations      by     three 
teachers. 

(b)  Discussion    of    language    question    arising   during 
month. 

(c)  Spelling  teaching  demonstration   by  supervisor. 

(d)  Discussion  of  demonstration. 

(e)  Noon.  Community  Dinner. 

(f)  Art  exhibit  and  lecture  by  specialist. 

(g)  Discussion :  Why  we  cannot  spell.    By  a  specialist, 
(h)     Industrial    demonstration    by    children :    How    we 

make  things. 
(This  meeting  had  to  be  cancelled  because  of 
a  very  deep  snow  which  fell  on  March  19th.) 
April  17th— Eighth  Meeting— at  Mansfield,  10  A.  M.  to  3  P-  M. 
(a)     Written    spelling    match    between    the    Blue    and 
Whites. 


THE  ZONE  PLAN    OF   SUPERVISION  23 

(b)  Oral  spelling  match  between  the  Blue  and  Whites. 

(c)  Noon.    Zone  Community  Dinner. 

(d)  Addresses  by  visiting  educators. 

(e)  Stunts  by  the  schools  of  the  zone. 

(f)  Announcing  the  winners  in  the  contests. 

C.      A  SAMPLE  SUPERVISORY  LETTER     ' 

While  the  schedule  of  visits  of  the  supervisor  was 
announced  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  for  the  entire 
year,  the  writer  felt  that  this  was  not  definite  enough 
tc  serve  the  best  interest  of  effective  supervision.  He, 
therefore,  sent  out  a  letter  about  one  week  in  advance 
of  his  tour  each  time  announcing  the  details  of  the 
tour.  He  gave  the  exact  time  that  he  would  arrive  at 
each  school,  and  the  length  of  time  that  he  would 
devote  to  each  school.  About  an  equal  length  of  time 
was  devoted  to  each  school  without  reference  to  the 
efficiency  of  the  teacher,  the  number  of  children,  or 
the  character  ,of  work  found.  Reasons  for  this  will 
be  discussed  in  a  later  section. 

The  letter  also  contained  a  few  pertinent  suggestions 
with  reference  to  the  subject  that  would  be  under 
investigation  during  the  tour.  Announcements  and 
other  matters  of  general  importance  to  the  Zone  were 
communicated  through  the  letter.  Below  is  given,  as 
an  illustration,  the  first  letter  announcing  the  exact 
dates  of  the  supervisor's  visits. 

October  20,  1919. 
Dear  Teachers : — 

Below  is  given  the  schedule  for  my  first  regular  visit  as 
Helping  Teacher.  I  have  stated  the  time  just  as  definitely  as 
possible  so  that  there  may  be  as  little  lost  time  as  possible  and 
so  that  you  may  be  able  to  present  just  what  you  want  to 
present  when  I  am  with  you 

Monday,  Oct.  27th,  Miss  Buchert's  school— 10  A.  M.  to  12  M. 
"    ,  Miss  Luke's  School— i  P.  M.  to  2  P.  M. 
"   ,  Miss  Pabst's  School— 3  P.  M.  to  4  P.  M. 


24  THE  VALUE  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 

Tuesday,  Oct.  28th,  Miss  Knudson's  School— 10  A.  M.  to  12  M. 

,  Miss    Lowe's    School  — i    P.    M.    to   2:15 

P.  M. 

"    ,  Miss  Wineland's   School  — 2:15     P.     M. 

to  4  P.  M. 

Wednesday,  Oct.  29th,  Miss  Birdie  Williams'  School  —9  A.  M. 

to  10 .30  A.  M. 
Wednesday,  Oct.  29th,  Miss  Nolen's  School,  11  A.  M.  to  12  M. 
"   ,  Miss  Cox's  School  — i  P.  M.  to  2  P.  M. 
"    ,  Miss  Schrimp's  School  —2:30  P.  M.  to 
4  P.  M. 
Thursday,  Oct.  20th,  Miss      Beulah      Williams'      School  — 10 
A.  M.  to  12  M. 
"         "  ,  Miss    Neiger's    School  — i    P.    M.    to    2 
P.   M. 
"  ,  Miss  Gunderson's   School  —2:30  P.   M. 
to  4  P.  M. 
Friday,  Oct.  31st,  Miss     Weidebusch's      School— 10     A.     M. 
to  12  M. 
"  ,  Miss   Freeman's   School — i    P.    M.   to   2:15 

P.   M. 
"  ,  Mr.  Rhoades'  School— 2:15  P.  M.  to  4  P.  M. 
Saturday,  Nov.  ist,  SECOND      REGULAR      TEACHERS' 
MEETING,      HELD      AT      MISS 
PABST'S      SCHOOL.     RONDELL 
NO.  5,  10  A.  M.  to  3  P.  M. 
I  shall  keep  the  above  schedule  just  as  nearly  as  possible  and 
will  be  at  the  place  named  at  the  appointed  hour  PROVIDED 
(i)  The  Ford  runs;   (2)  the  temperature  is  not  below  zero; 
(3)  I  am  not  ill. 

While  I  am  with  you,  I  hope  you  will  teach  reading  classes. 
If  there  is  any  time  left,  I  trust  that  you  will  teach  a  lan- 
guage or  grammar  lesson. 

I  hope  you  have  found  the  suggestions  that  were  made  on 
sheet  III  distributed  at  the  last  teacher's  meeting,  helpful  to 
you  during  the  month.  T  trust  that  you  have  been  making  notes 
dailv  on  your  efforts,  results  and  observations. 

Will  you  be  good  enough  to  write  all  questions  that  you 
wish  to  ask  help  on  either  from  me  or  the  other  teachers  and 
give  them  to  me  when  T  come?  This  will  help  you  to  write 
out  your  questions,  will  help  me  in  studying  them  and  be  of 
help  to  all  of  the  other  teachers  also.  I  shall  compile  all  of 
these  questions  and  have  them  ready  for  the  Teachers'  Meet- 
inpf  on  November  ist. 

Of  course  you  are  planning  to  be  present  at  the  Teachers* 
Meeting.     The  last  one  was  very  interesting  and  profitable. 


THE  ZONE  PLAN   OF  SUPERVISION  25 

Let's  make  each  of  the  others  even  better.  We  want  100% 
present  EVERY  time.  That  will  guarantee  successful  meet- 
ings. Miss  Pabst  and  her  people  are  to  be  our  hostesses  and 
we  want  to  show  them  how  we  can  show  our  appreciation. 

Will  you  please  send  me  an  item  or  two  for  the  Zone  Joy 
Maker  (Monthly  Bulletin)  about  your  school  that  you  think 
might  be  of  some  help  to  other  schools  and  in  which  your 
own  children  and  community  take  pride. 

I  am  looking  forward  to  my  visit  to  your  schools  with  great 
pleasure  and  am  sure  I  shall  see  some  excellent  reading. 
With  best  wishes,  I  am 

Yours    very   truly, 

M.  S.  PITTMAN, 

Helping  Teacher. 

D.      WHAT  TPE  SUPERVISOR  DID  WHILE  ON  A  TOUR 

I.  The  background  and  the  outlook  for  the  tour. 
At  each  teachers'  meeting  the  supervisor  taught  a 
demonstration  lesson  in  the  subject  which  would  be 
under  special  investigation  during  the  month  immedi- 
ately following  the  meeting.  The  supervisor's  demon- 
stration had  for  its  purpose  the  setting  up  of  the 
problem  for  the  month.  It  was  not  a  model  lesson 
but  a  suggestive  lesson.  There  was  a  particular  prob- 
lem to  be  solved.  His  demonstration  was  an  attempted 
solution,  not  a  conclusive  one.  After  each  demonstra- 
tion there  was  a  conference  at  which  questions  were 
asked  and  difficulties  pointed  out. 

The  teachers  went  back  to  their  schools  and  had 
three  weeks  in  which  to  experiment,  read  and  think 
over  the  problem  before  the  supervisor  would  visit 
them.  Each  teacher  was  asked  to  keep  her  eyes  open 
to  difficulties  and  to  discoveries.  She  was  urged  to 
experiment,  to  try  her  hand  at  new  things.  If  she 
made  a  discovery  it  was  to  be  given  to  the  rest  of  her 
group. 


26  TH^  VALUS  OF  SCHOOL  SUPE^RVISION 

The  teacher  usually  secured  the  co-operation  of  the 
children  with  some  such  statement  as  this : 

"Children,  what  is  our  subject  for  special  study  this 
month." 

"I  wonder  if  we  can  do  that  subject  better  this 
month  than  we  have  ever  done  it  before?" 

"Would  you  like  to  try  some  new  ways  of  doing 
it?" 

'Would  you  like  to  have  the  supervisor  feel  that  our 
school  can  do  that  subject  just  as  well  as  any  school  in 
the  zone,  or  even  better  than  any  other?" 

With  this  background  and  this  outlook  the  teacher 
and  the  children  set  to  work.  After  three  weeks  of 
work  they  were  prepared  to  be  observed.  They  had 
lived  through,  in  prospect,  the  visit  of  the  supervisor. 
They  had  worked  on  their  subject  for  a  sufficient 
length  of  time  to  gain  ease  in  doing  what  they  did  and 
to  discover  the  difficulties  which  they  had  not  yet  mas- 
tered. They,  both  the  children  and  the  teacher,  looked 
forward  to  the  visit  of  the  supervisor,  therefore,  as 
an  opportunity  to  be  both  appreciated  and  to  be  helped. 

2.  Three  or  Mor^  Recitations  of  the  Same  Subject 
Observed.  The  teacher  and  the  children  knew  in 
advance  just  when  the  supervisor  would  be  with  them 
and  just  what  particular  work  he  was  coming  to  see. 
All  of  the  people  of  the  school  community  also  knew. 
So  did  the  supervisor  know.  This  unity  of  purpose 
on  the  part  of  all  concerned  did  much  to  stimulate 
effective  work  and  to  clarify  the  aims  and  the  methods 
of  work  for  all  concerned. 

For  the  purpose  of  stimulating  good  work  on  the 
part  of  both  teachers  and  children,  there  is  perhaps 


THE  ZONE  PLAN   OF   SUPERVISION  2/ 

no  better  means  than  the  approaching  visit  of  the 
supervisor.  In  the  early  stages  of  supervision  this 
may  cause  a  Httle  nervousness  and  may  lead  to  a  dispo- 
sition to  make  an  exhibition.  These  undesirable  reac- 
tions soon  disappear  under  sympathetic  professional 
treatment  and  poise  of  manner  and  a  high  standard 
of  regular  work  take  their  place. 

When  the  supervisor  arrived  at  the  school  he  was 
asked  which  class  he  would  like  to  see  first.  All  classes 
were  prepared.  Those  classes  were  most  happy  which 
were  called  for.  Not  always  did  all  classes  get  an 
opportunity  to  recite  during  the  supervisor's  visit.  In 
some  schools,  certain  classes  were  observed  in  the  par- 
ticular subject  under  investigation  and  then  a  class 
or  two  in  some  other  subject  not  under  investigation 
were  observed.  This  was  regulated  by  the  diagnostic 
indications  in  that  particular  school. 

As  a  usual  practice,  the  supervisor  observed  at  least 
three  classes  in  the  particular  subject  under  investi- 
gation, one  class  each  from  the  primary,  intermediate 
and  grammar  sections  of  the  school.  This  gave  a 
good  sampling  of  the  school  work  and  provided  suf- 
ficient data  for  a  clear  diagnosis  of  the  character  of 
the  work  done  in  that  school  in  that  particular  subject. 

The  supervisor  took  brief  notes,  as  unobtrusively  as 
possible,  of  the  work  observed.  This  was  for  the 
purpose  of  living  over  later  the  details  of  what  was 
observed  and  for  conferring  with  the  teacher. 

3.  Talked  to  the  School — At  the  close  of  the  super- 
visor's visit,  he  usually  took  about  five  minutes  for 
talking  to  the  school  about  the  work.  He  desired  to 
leave  the  children  and  the  teacher  pleased  because  of 


28  THE  VALUE  OF  SCHOOI,  SUPERVISION 

the  work  that  they  had  done  well  and  unsatisfied,  not 
dissatisfied,  with  themselves  over  the  work  which  they 
had  not  done  so  well.  The  remarks  were  addressed  to 
the  children.  What  was  meant  for  the  teacher  was 
usually  implied  in  what  was  said  to  the  children.  It 
was  constantly  the  aim  of  the  supervisor  to  inspire  and 
to  guide  the  schools  rather  than  to  criticize  them.  To 
leave  the  school  feeling  that  it  had  done  well  in  certain 
particulars  and  ambitious  to  do  even  better  the  next 
time  in  other  particulars  is,  in  the  writer's  opinion,  a 
better  means  through  which  to  secure  improvement 
than  to  leave  the  school  conscious  of  the  supervisor's 
disapproval  and  crestfallen  because  of  its  own  failure 

4.  Conferred  zvith  the  Teacher — The  supervisor's 
conference  with  the  teacher  while  visiting  the  school 
was  usually  very  brief  and  quite  superficial.  Only 
those  matters  of  local  and  immediate  importance  were 
discussed  at  the  classroom  conference.  The  larger 
matters  of  professional  importance  were  reserved  for 
the  general  conference  to  be  held  with  the  entire  group 
of  teachers  at  the  close  of  the  week.  (The  group 
conference  will  be  discussed  later.)  The  reservation 
of  the  larger  subjects  for  the  general  conference  stimu- 
lated the  attendance  of  the  teacher  at  the  group  con- 
ferences. 

5.  Played  with  the  Children — It  is  the  belief  of  the 
writer  that  the  children  in  the  schools  may  be  used 
very  eflfectively  as  one  of  the  agencies  of  supervision. 
This  may  be  done  by  making  the  children  aware  of 
their  standings  in  the  various  subjects  and  what  their 
standing  is  compared  with  what  it  should  be.  When 
this  is  done,  it  serves  to  fix  a  goal  of  attainment  for 


THE  zone;  plan  of  supervision  29 

the  children.  The  children  thus  develop  a  different 
attitude  toward  the  school,  the  teacher,  and  the  super- 
visor. 

The  confidence  and  the  good  will  of  the  children 
must  be  won  and  held  in  order  to  keep  them  in  this 
attitude  toward  the  school,  its  work  and  its  officials. 
One  of  the  most  effective  means  through  which  this 
may  be  done  is  play.  Believing  strongly  in  play  as  an 
agency  through  which  to  get  the  confidence  of  the 
children,  the  writer  tried  to  have  at  least  one  game 
with  the  children  upon  each  visit  to  the  school.  Some- 
times it  was  a  game  with  a  pedagogical  purpose  such 
as  a  language  game,  a  folk  dance,  or  a  physical  drill. 
Sometimes  it  was  an  indoor  game  whose  only  purpose 
was  a  trick  and  a  laugh.  Sometimes  it  was  an  outdoor 
'rough  and  tumble."  Sometimes  the  children  served 
as  the  leaders,  sometimes  the  writer  led  the  game. 

The  play  developed  a  spirit  of  comradeship  which 
carried  over  from  the  play  to  the  work.  It  eliminated 
that  reserve  and  self-consciousness  on  the  part  of 
children  while  in  the  schoolroom  which  prevents  them 
from  doing  themselves  credit  while  in  the  presence  of 
visitors. 

6.  Visited  the  People — If  the  supervisor's  visit  to 
the  school  affects  only  the  school,  then,  one  of  the 
largest  agencies  of  and  for  rural  betterment  has  been 
overlooked — the  home.  It  was  the  writer's  hope  that 
his  visit  to  a  school  community  might  bear  the  maxi- 
mum of  good  results.  It  was  with  this  purpose  in 
mind  that  he  advertised  the  exact  date  and  purpose  of 
bis  visits  to  the  schools.  Every  parent  of  the  com- 
munity knew  exactly  when  and  for  what  purpose  the 


30  THE  VALUE  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 

supervisor's  next  visit  would  be.  This  made  it  possible 
for  any  of  them  to  visit  the  school  at  the  same  time 
the  supervisor  did,  if  they  so  desired.  They  were 
enabled  to  confer  with  him  upon  any  matter  with  which 
they  thought  he  might  give  assistance.  This  informa- 
tion stimulated  constant  interest  on  their  part  in  the 
particular  work  which  was  being  carried  forward  at 
the  school.  It  provided  for  a  constant  change  in  the 
topics  of  family  and  community  discussion. 

The  supervisor  met  and  visited,  briefly,  many  parents 
while  at  the  school  buildings  and  while  traveling  along 
the  roads.  He  visited  a  far  greater  number,  though, 
in  their  own  homes.  He  always  had  more  invitations 
than  he  could  accept  to  visit  in  the  homes  of  the  people. 
It  was  while  on  these  visits  that  the  close  personal 
friendships  were  formed,  educational  possibilities  were 
discussed,  and  support  for  progressive  school  measures 
was  secured, 

E.      WHAT  WAS  DONE  AT  THE  GROUP  TEACHERS'   MEET- 
INGS 

The  group  meetings  of  the  teachers  held  monthly 
had  a  number  of  purposes.  The  major  purpose,  of 
course,  was  the  professional  improvement  of  the  teach- 
ers. The  meetings  were  held  on  Saturdays,  with  one 
exception — December.  Attendance  was  entirely  volun- 
tary. The  meetings  began  at  lo  a.  m.  and  closed  at  3 
p.  m.  From  io-to-12  was  devoted  strictly  to  the  pro- 
fessional part  of  the  program  and  was  attended  only 
by  the  teachers  and  such  children  as  were  present  for 
demonstration  purposes.  The  afternoon  session  from 
i-to-3  was  devoted  to  work  of  a  less  professional 
nature  and  had  for  its  purpose  the  entertainment  of 


'The;  zone!  plan  (5f  supERvigiON  ^f 

the  genef^I  audience.  The  forenoon  part  of  the  pro- 
gram usually  consisted  of  (i)  a  teaching  demonstra- 
tion by  the  supervisor,  (2)  a  conference  based  upon 
his  demonstration,  (3)  a  teaching  demonstration  by 
two  classroom  teachers  and  (4)  a  conference  based 
upon  their  demonstrations,  (5)  a  summary  discussion 
of  the  subject  under  investigation. 

I.  The  Supervisor's  Demonstration — ^The  purpose 
of  the  supervisor's  demonstration  was  to  initiate  the 
next  subject  to  be  emphasized  by  the  group.  The 
special  problem  for  the  month  was  set  by  means  of  a 
brief  duscussion  led  by  the  supervisor.  His  demon- 
stration, then,  was  an  attempt  to  suggest  a  way  by 
which  that  problem  might  be  solved.  The  following 
instance  will  illustrate  this  point. 

As  stated  in  an  earlier  section  of  this  chapter,  the 
first  part  of  the  first  group  meeting  of  the  teachers 
held  on  October  4th  was  devoted  to  the  scoring  of 
some  of  the  standard  tests  in  reading  given  just  a  few. 
days  before  in  the  schools  in  which  the  teachers  taught. 
The  teachers  were  not  familiar  with  standard  tests. 
They  did  not  know  how  fast  children  could  be  expected 
to  read  silently  and  how  well  they  could  be  expected  to 
understand  the  things  they  read.  By  the  time  the 
teachers  had  each  scored  a  few  papers  and  the  scores 
had  been  aranged  into  a  table  of  distribution,  with  the 
quartiles,  medians,  and  averages  located,  the  whole 
problem  of  teaching  silent  reading  began  to  dawn  upon 
them.  They  saw  that  some  children  were  reading  four 
times  as  rapidly  as  others  in  the  same  grade.  They 
began  to  see  that  the  rapid  readers  were  usually  the 
ones  whose  comprehension  was  highest.    The  natural 


32  the;  vai^u^  of  schooi<  supervision 

question,  then,  was  "How  can  the  speed  and  compre- 
hension of  silent  reading  be  increased?"  To  answer 
this  question  then  became  the  major  aim  of  the  teachers 
for  the  next  month. 

As  a  further  preparation  of  the  teachers  for  the 
observation  and  criticism  of  a  recitation  in  silent  read- 
ing the  following  general  suggestions  were  distributed 
and  discussed  briefly  before  the  demonstration  was 
given : 

GENERAL    SUGGESTIONS    ON    READING    IN    THE 
PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 
M.  S.  PiTTMAN,  Helping-Teacher,  Brown  County,  S.  D. 
Silent  Reading 
Authorities  declare : 

1.  That  we  do  much  more  silent  than  oral  reading, 

2.  That  school  practice  usually  retards  rapid,  thoughtful 
silent  reading,  because : 

(i)  The  school  does  not  give  sufficient  emphasis  to 
speed  and  thought  getting  in  silent  reading. 

(2)  Schoolroom  practice  fixes  a  very  slow  reading  rate. 

(3)  It  too  often  fixes  the  habit  of  lip  reading, 

(4)  The  limits  of  the  lessons  are  so  fixed  that  it 
often  deadens  interest  in  reading. 

(5)  It  destroys  the  child's  initiative. 

(6)  It  too  often  fixes  the  habit  of  overlooking  the 
thought  and  centers  the  attention  upon  less  im- 
portant details. 

3.  That  silent  reading  can  be  MUCH  more  rapid  than  oral 
reading. 

4.  That  rapid  readers  can  reproduce  much  more  of  what 
they  read  than  slow  readers  can  and  do  it  with  a  higher 
percentage  of  accuracy. 

If  these  assertions  are  true,  we  should  give  more  thought 
and  time  to  teaching  silent  reading  and  less  to  teaching  the 
type  of  lessons  of  which  the  critics  complain. 

In  our  silent  reading  we  should  have  two  big  purposes: 

I.    To  develop  speed. 
*  2.     To  develop  power  in  thought  getting. 
How  to  secure  these: 
I.    Use  literature  that  is  easy  for  the  reader, 


the:  zone  plan  of  supe:rvision  33 

2.  Use    literature    that    has    a    strong   appeal    for    the 
reader, 

3.  Have  contests  for  speed  and  thought  getting, 

4.  Have  large  lesson  or  story  aims, 

5.  Have  small  paragraph  or  special  thought  aims. 
When  the  essential  phases  of  the  preceding  sugges- 
tions had  been  located,  the  supervisor  distributed  to 
the  teachers  the  following  brief  outline  of  the  lesson 
which  he  would  teach.  The  teachers  were  requested 
to  follow  the  outline  as  they  observed  the  recitation. 

TO    ILLUSTRATE    HOW    TO    SECURE   RAPID    THOUGHTFUL    SILENT 
READING 

Text:     Baldwin  &  Bender's  Fifth  Reader,  Pg.  216-221. 

Lesson  Title:  WHO  IS  THE  HAPPIEST  MAN? 

Words  to  be  presented :  Croesus,  Solon,  Tellus,  Cyrus,  pyre. 

Children's  general  aim :  To  find  who  is  he  happiest  man 
and  why. 

Children's  specific  aim :  To  find  the  answers  to  the  follow- 
ing questions  in  the  shortest  possible  time. 

1.  To  whom  is  a  wealthy  man  compared? 

2.  What  did  King  Croesus  say  of  himself? 
S.    To  whom  is  a  wise  man  compared? 

4.  What  question  did  Croesus  ask  Solon  as  they  dined 
together  ? 

5.  Why  did  Solon  think  that  Tellus  was  so  deserving  of 
happiness? 

6.  Who  did  Solon  think  were  the  next  happiest?    Why? 

7.  How   did    Solon   say   we   could   tell   when   a   man   is 
happy  and  why? 

8.  What  order  did  King  Cyrus  give  his  soldiers  about 
Croesus? 

9.  What  did  the  savage  soldier  say  as  he  ran  for  a  torch? 
10.     What  did  Croesus  exclaim  as  he  lay  on  the  pyre? 

II.     How  did  Cyrus  decide  to  treat  Croesus  and  why? 

2.  Conference  on  Supervisor's  Demonstration — Af- 
ter the  lesson  was  completed,  a  brief  conference  was 
held.  The  following  are  some  of  the  questions  asked 
and  discussed: 

I.  I  noticed  that  CHflford  was  always  the  first  child 
to  find  the  answer  to  the  question.     Would  not  this 


34  THE  VALUE  OF  SCHOOI.  SUPERVISION 

make  him  vain?    Should  he  be  in  this  class  in  reading? 

2.  I  noticed  that  Mary  was  always  the  last  one  to 
find  the  answer.  Would  this  not  tend  to  discourage 
her?    Should  she  be  in  this  class  in  reading? 

3.  What  should  be  done  to  bring  the  slow  pupils  up 
to  the  speed  of  the  rapid  ones? 

4.  What  should  be  done  with  the  rapid  ones  while 
the  teacher  is  working  with  the  slow  ones? 

Other  questions  were  asked  but  these  are  sufficient 
to  show  that  the  group  was  gettiag  at  the  heart  of  the 
problems  which  confront  the  teacher  of  silent  reading. 

3.  Suggestions  for  th&  Follozuing  Month — ^This 
meeting  closed  by  the  supervisor  giving  to  the  teachers 
the  following  list  of  suggestions  for  their  guidance 
during  the  following  month. 

BROWN     COUNTY     HELPING-TEACHER    DISTRICT 
M.  S.  PiTTMAN,  Helping  Teacher 

Suggestions  to   Guide   the   Work  in  Reading  During  Month 
of  October  4 — November  i 

1.  Study  very  carefully  the  S.  D.  Course  of  Study.    It  is 
EXCELLENT.     We  should  know  ALL  that  it  says  on 

Reading. 

2.  In  addition  to  the  Course  of  Study,  each  teacher  should 
study  carefully  at  least  one  of  the  books  listed  below. 

3.  Become  thoroughly  conscious  that  our  problem  is  to 
teach  the  child  (a)  how  to  get  the  thought  for  himself 
from  the  printed  page  and  do  it  easily,  rapidly  and 
thoroughly;  (b)  how  to  give  the  thought  to  others  in 
an  effective  and  pleasing  manner. 

4.  Since  SILENT  reading  is  used  more  in  every-day  life 
than  ORAL  reading,  we  should  cultivate  great  skill  in 
silent  reading.  Let's  make  efficient  silent  reading  our 
major  interest  for  the  next  month. 

5.  Keep  constantly  in  mind  your  problem,  your  aim,  in  the 
teaching  of  reading.  Vary  your  devices  for  accom- 
plishing your  aim. 

6.  Keep  notes  on  each  new  device  you  use  as  to  its  suc- 
cess or  failure.    Explain  its  results  to  yourself.     Writ- 


the:  zone  plan  of  supervision  35 

ten  notes  made  at  the  close  of  each  day  on  your  ef- 
forts will  help  to  clarify  your  thinking  and  will  aid  you 
in  setting  up  new  standards. 

7.  When  you  find  a  good  device,  work  it  HARD  until 
you  become  expert  in  its  application.  Keep  daily  notes 
on  your  own  growth  in  its  use. 

8.  Jot  down  daily  knotty  questions  that  trouble  you  and 
ask  the  counsel  of  the  helping-teacher  when  he  comes. 

9.  Put  down  each  day  some  question  that  you  would 
like  to  have  answered  at  the  next  teachers'  meeting. 

10.  Take  note  of  any  new  solutions  to  your  problems  so  that 
you  can  give  them  to  the  other  teachers  of  the  group. 

11.  Remember  if  you  hope  to  develop  speed  in  the  reading 
of  your  children,  you  must 

(a)  Provide  material  that  is  easy  for  them  to  read, 

(b)  Provide  material  that  is  very  interesting  to  them, 

(c)  Have   sufficient   periods    in   which    you    test   their 
power  to  get  thought  speedily. 

(d)  Your  personal  experimentation  in  this  work  will 
aid  you  in  teaching. 

What  is  your  own  rate  of  silent  reading?  Are  YOU  up  to 
standard? 

SUGGESTED  READING  FOR  THE  MONTH: 
I,     Teaching  Children  to  Read — Klapper. 
,2.     Special    Methods    for    Reading     for     the     Grades — 
McMurry 

3.  Reading — How  to  Teach  It — Arnold. 

4.     Reading  in  Public  Schools — Briggs  and  Cofifman. 

4.  Primary  Reading — Method\s  of  Teaching  in  Ten  Cities 
— Educational  Pub.  Co. 

6.  Five    Messages    to    Teachers    of   Primary    Reading — 
Sawyer. 

7.  The  Story  in  Primary  Reading — Van  Ambaugh. 

8.  The  Dramatic  Method  of  Teaching — Finlay-Johnson. 

9.  How  to  Teach  Reading — Hall. 

10.  How    to    Teach    the    Fundamental   Subjects — ^^Kendall 
and  Mirick. 

11.  Teaching   the  Common  Branches — Charters. 

12.  The  Psychology  and  Pedagogy  of  Reading — Huey. 

The  plan  of  procedure  above  detailed  is  illustrative 
of  the  part  which  the  supervisor  performed  each  month 
in  connection  with  each  new  subject  taken  up  for  study. 
Such  a  detailed  statement  might  be  given  for  all  of  the 
seven  group  conferences  but  it  seems  superfluous. 


36  the;  value;  of  school  supervision 

4.  Demonstration  Teaching  by  the  Teacher — After 
four  weeks  of  experimentation  and  practice  upon  the 
subject  demonstrated  by  the  supervisor,  two  teachers 
usually  would  teach  a  lesson  in  the  same  subject  for 
the  observation  of  the  group. 

On  November  ist,  four  weeks  riter  the  supervisor's 
demonstration  discussed  above,  three  of  the  teachers 
of  the  group,  Misses  Luke,  Wineland,  and  Pabst, 
taught  lessons  for  the  observation  of  the  group  illus- 
trating the  devices  which  they  had  used  during  the 
month  in  order  to  improve  the  speed  and  comprehen- 
sion of  children  in  the  art  of  silent  reading. 

Miss  Pabst  taught  a  third  grade  class.  Miss  Wine- 
land  a  fifth  grade,  and  Miss  Luke  an  eighth  grade. 

5.  Summary  Discussion  of  Silent  Reading — The 
particular  demonstrations  were  not  discussed  in  detail 
as  was  the  demonstration  of  the  supervisor  the  pre- 
vious month,  but  a  general  summary  discussion  of 
silent  reading  was  had.  This  discussion  was  based 
upon  a  composite  list  of  questions  which  had  been  con- 
tributed by  the  various  teachers.  The  questions  were 
answered  in  the  light  of  the  supervisor's  and  the  teach- 
ers' demonstrations,  the  four  weeks  of  classroom  trial, 
and  the  reading  and  thinking  that  had  been  done 
during  the  month.  The  following  questions  con- 
stituted the  list : 

(a)  In  just  what  particulars  is  a  recitation  which 
has  for  its  special  purpose  the  development  of  speed 
and  comprehension  superior  to  the  usual  "Read  next" 
type  of  recitation? 

(b)  If  a  child,  in  order  to  gain  in  speed,  fails  to 
get  the  thought,  what  is  to  be  done? 


the:  zone  plan  of  supervision  37 

(c)  If  a  child  reads  very  slowly  and  still  fails  to 
get  the  thought,  what  is  the  cause?  What  is  the 
remedy  ? 

(d)  Which  is  the  best  method  by  which  to  improve 
the  speed  and  comprehension  in  silent  reading — read- 
ing from  a  regular  text  in  class,  reading  other  ma- 
terial such  as  newspapers,  or  reading  books  at  home? 
What  is    the  service  to  be  rendered  by  each  of  these? 

(e)  Where  there  is  only  one  child  in  a  class,  what 
can  be  substituted  for  the  rivalry  for  developing  speed 
ir:  reading? 

(f)  What  are  the  principal  causes  for  slow  read- 
ing? How  may  the  particular  causes  that  affect  each 
child  be  located?  When  they  have  heen  located,  how 
ir  the  best  way  to  use  that  knowledge  to  improve  the 
speed  of  the  child  ? 

F.      DISCUSSION   OF  teacher's  CLASSROOM   AND  DEMON- 
STRATION   TEACHING 

In  general,  critical  discussion  of  lessons  observed 
was  undertaken  in  the  group  meetings  only.  The  dis- 
cussions in  the  individual  classrooms  were  of  minor 
consequence,  usually  encouraging  in  tone,  and  but  pre- 
liminary to  the  thorough-going  analysis  and  discussion 
of  the  group  conference.  The  writer  adopted  this 
procedure  for  the  following  reasons : 

I.  Limitations' of  the  individual  conference — When 
the  supervisor  visited  the  school,  the  situation  was 
rarely  such  as  to  make  an  individual  conference  with 
the  teacher  satisfactory  or  productive  of  the  greatest 
results,  because 


38  THE  value:  of  school  supervision 

(a)  The  time  available  was  too  limited. 

(b)  The  physical  situation  was  not  conducive  to 
professional  poise.  The-  children  were  usually  present. 
There  were  many  other  matters  which  the  teacher  had 
ir  mind — the  conduct  of  the  children,  the  temperature 
of  the  schoolroom,  etc. 

(c)  Intellectually,  the  teacher  was  probably  unpre- 
pared for  full  appreciation  of  any  suggestion  which 
might  be  given  that  had  any  psychological  or  peda- 
gogical depth. 

(d)  The  mind  set  of  the  teacher  was  not  such  as 
to  make  most  profitable  an  individual  conference  based 
upon  her  own  teaching. 

2.  Advantages  of  the  group  conference — In  view 
of  those  limitations,  the  supervisor  endeavored  to  sup- 
ply the  greater  part  of  the  necessary  professional 
guidance  through  group  conferences.  The  group  con- 
ference professionalizes  the  discussion  of  teaching 
method  in  a  way  that  is  practically  impossible  in  the 
individual  conference.  This  is  especially  true  when 
the  individual  conference  is  held  at  the  teacher's  own 
school  immediately  after  the  supervisor's  observation 
of  her  work.  The  distinct  advantages  of  the  group 
conference  were : 

(a)  There  was  sufficient  time  to  concentrate  upon 
a  professional  problem,  come  to  realize  its  nature, 
depth,  and  some  of  the  possible  methods  of  procedure 
for  its  solution. 

(b)  The  physical  situation  was  conducive  to  con- 
centrated and  continued  thought  upon  the  problem. 

(c)  The  mind  set  of  the  teachers  and  the  supervisor 
was  such  as  to  welcome  the  presentation  and  discus- 
sion of  the  knotty  problems  of  classroom  method. 


THi:  ZONK  PLAN  OF  SUPERVISION  39 

(d)  Freed  from  the  responsibilities  of  the  class- 
room, equipped  with  one  month  of  professional  reading 
and  classroom  practice  in  connection  with  the  idea 
under  discussion,  the  teacher  was  intellectually  pre- 
pared for  an  intelligent  consideration  and  discussion 
of  the  problem. 

(e)  Since  whatever  was  done  was  done  explicitly 
for  the  entire  group,  the  demonstrations  and  discus- 
sions were  freed  from  the  personal  elements  which 
might  have  entered  to  embarrass  the  teacher  or  the 
supervisor  and  thereby  check  the  frankest  discussion 
of  the  problem. 

(f)  By  means  of  demonstration  for  the  group  and 
discussion  by  the  group,  the  educational  principles  were 
stripped  of  the  personal  bias  that  would  enter  to  limit 
the  discussion  in  an  individual  conference. 

(g)  In  the  group  conference  the  teachers  them- 
selves were  the  critics  instead  of  the  supervisor.  This 
not  only  relieved  the  supervisor  of  the  possible  odium 
arising  from  his  criticism  but  it  added  power  to  the 
teachers. 

(h)  The  group  conference  developed  an  esprit  de 
corps  among  the  teachers  which  the  exclusive  use  of 
the  individual  conference  would  not  have  made  pos- 
sible. 

(i)  The  greatest  stimulus  to  professional  reading 
came  through  the  group  conference.  When  one 
teacher  saw  another  teacher  take  a  professional  book 
to  read  during  the  month,  she  was  disposed  to  do  like- 
wise. When  one  teacher  heard  another  make  an  excel- 
lent report  of  some  book  which  she  had  read,  or  use 
to  good  advantage  some  point  which  had  been  gleaned 


40  TH^  VAhVt  OF  SCHOOL  SUPE^RVISION 

from  a  book  recently  read,  she  also  was  fired  to  similar 
purposeful  reading. 

(j)  The  group  conference  generally  led  to  a  more 
satisfactory  individual  conference,  subsequently,  than 
would  have  been  possible  otherwise.  Afer  the  teacher 
had  the  principle  fixed  in  her  mind  upon  which  the 
group  was  working,  she  was  then  usually  anxious  to 
get  definite  help  and  suggestion  so  that  she  might  put 
into  practice  what  she  had  come  to  understand  in  prin- 
ciple. She  had  a  professional  background  suitable  for 
making  a  pe-rsonal  conference  not  only  profitable  but 
thoroughly  pleasant  both  to  herself  and  the  supervisor. 

(k)  Finally,  the  group  conference  was  a  great 
time  saver  for  both  the  teachers  and  the  supervisor. 
Within  two  hours  of  demonstration  for  and  discussion 
by  the  group,  the  entire  group  of  fifteen  teachers  had 
fixed  in  mind  principles  that  it  would  have  taken  each 
one,  working  separately,  much  longer  to  grasp. 


Chapte:r  V 

COMMUNITY  ACTIVITIES  OF  THE 
SUPERVISOR 

In  addition  to  the  work  which  the  supervisor  did 
with  the  teachers  and  the  children,  which  had  for  its 
immediate  purpose  the  improvement  of  the  character 
of  the  school  work,  the  sueprvisor  participated  in 
other  activities,  the  purpose  of  which  was  to  stimulate 
and  help  the  social  and  economic  life  of  the  community. 
The  purpose  of  such  stimulation  and  help  was  to 
increase  the  service  of  the  school  and  to  win  for  the 
school  a  more  intelligent  and  whole-hearted  support. 
These  activities  were  along  six  lines : 

A.      VISITS  IN  THi:  HOMES  OF  THE;  PEOPIyE 

The  writer  believes  that  the  best  results  can  be 
obtained  in  the  supervision  of  the  schools  only  when 
the  people  understand  what  is  being  undertaken.  With 
the  purpose  of  informing  the  people  and  with  enlisting 
their  interest  and  co-operation,  he  decided  to  visit  them 
in  their  homes.  He  announced  early  in  the  year  that 
he  wanted  to  visit  the  patrons.  He  wanted  to  take  a 
meal  or  sleep  at  the  home  of  every  child  in  the  zone. 
By  actual  count,  he  did  succeed  in  doing  so  in  fifty 
per  cent  of  the  homes  of  the  zone. 

The  vis^t  in  the  home  served  as  particularly  illumin- 
ating to  the  supervisor.  He  saw  what  the  economic 
status  of  th^^  family  was.  He  learned  something  of 
fhe  family  history.  He  came  to  understand  its  social 
outlook.  He  discovered  the  particular  interests  of  the 
children  in  a  way  that  mere  schoolroom  observations 

41 


42  the:  valuer  of  SCHOOt  SUPERVISION 

could  never  reveal.  He  entered  into  friendly  relation 
with  all  of  the  members  of  the  family.  He  was 
mitiated  into  the  home  life  and  after  that  his  interest 
seemed  to  become  their  interest.  Their  interest  became 
his  guide  to  effective  work.  The  visit  was  the  shuttle 
which  knit  their  several  interests  into  a  consistent  edu- 
cational purpose  for  the  community.  What  they 
needed  determined  his  action.  What  he  desired  became 
to  them  a  command  for  support.  This  relation  could 
scarcely  be  developed  or  maintained  without  the 
friendly  visit  of  the  supervisor  in  the  homes  of  the 
people. 

B.      THE  SCHOOL   NEWSPAPER  FOR  THE  ZONE 

As  one  of  the  means  by  which  the  supervisor  in- 
formed the  people  of  the  educational  situation,  its 
needs  and  its  achievements,  he  used  a  little  paper 
which,  for  the  purpose  of  appealing  to  the  children, 
was  called  "The  Joy  Maker." 

In  this  little  paper  he  presented,  in  very  simple  terms 
which  the  smallest  child  could  understand,  the  aims  for 
the  year's  work.  Here  was  published  the  results  of  the 
initial  survey  of  the  schools  with  the  scores  of  every 
child  so  that  he  and  his  family  could  see  how  he  ranked 
with  every  other  child  of  his  age  and  grade  in  the 
entire  zone.  This  was  explained  in  terms  such  that 
the  third  grade  children  could  understand  them.  They 
understood  it  so  well  that  any  child  could  tell  how  he 
ranked  as  compared  to  the  median  of  his  g^rade  in  all. 
of  the  thirteen  functions  in  which  he  was  examined. 
In  the  paper  were  published  the  news  items  of  interest 
about  each  school  in  the  zone.  The  teachers'  meetings, 
the  visits  of  the  supervisor  to  the  homes  of  the  people, 


COMMUNITY  ACTIVITIES  OF  THE:  SUPERVISOR         43 

the  community  meetings  held  at  any  school  building, 
and  all  such  items  were  told  about  in  this  little  paper. 

One  copy  of  the  paper  was  sent  to  every  home  in 
the  zone  where  there  were  children.  There  were  a 
number  of  requests  for  it  in  homes  from  which  there 
were  no  children  in  the  school.  The  supervisor  de- 
livered the  papers  while  on  his  supervisory  visits  to  the 
schools. 

The  school  newspaper  seems  to  have  been  one  of  the 
most  effective  agencies  of  supervision  used  by  the  su- 
pervisor. In  order  to  get  an  estimate  of  the  services 
which  it  rendered,  the  county  superintendent  sent  out 
a  questionnaire  to  the  teachers  in  which  she  asked  what 
service  it  rendered.  The  following  are  some  of  the 
replies : 

"1  find  that  most  of  the  parents  themselves  read  'The 
Joymaker,'  but  as  some  of  them  cannot  read  Eng- 
lish very  well,  I  urge  the  pupils  to  take  turns  in  read- 
ing it  to  their  parents." 

"The  publication  of  this  little  paper,  The  Joy  Ma- 
ker," helps  to  keep  every  one  interested  in  the  work. 
The  children  are  simply  delighted  to  see  their  names 
or  something  about  their  school  in  this  paper.  I  find 
that  the  parents  are  just  as  pleased  as  the  children  are." 

'T  know  some  people  who  read  more  English  when 
they  read  'The  Joy  Maker'  than  they  do  during  the 
rest  of  the  month  put  together." 

The  supervisor  felt  that  it  served  to  introduce  the 
people  and  the  progress  of  one  school  community  to 
all  of  the  other  school  communities  in  the  zone.  He 
felt  that  through  it  the  community  was  prepared  for 
any  approaching  event  that  was  to  occur  later.     The 


44  THE  VALUE  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 

entire  zone  was,  as  a  result  of  the  little  paper,  not  only 
reviewing  the  events  of  the  past  and  understanding  the 
happenings  of  the  present,  but  it  was  living,  educa- 
tionally, in  the  future.  If  the  old  statement  is  true 
that  anticipation  is  more  delightful  than  realization, 
the  school  people  have  been  very  remiss  in  the  past  in 
that  they  have  not  made  large  enough  factor  of  antici- 
pation. 'The  Joy  Maker"  made  anticipation,  perhaps, 
the  largest  element  of  the  school  work.  As  the  writer 
recalls  the  year's  work,  he  feels  that  he  heard  more 
expressions  of  joy  arising  out  of  the  things  which  came 
as  a  result  of  the  school  paper  than  from  any  other 
phase  of  his  work. 

The  humorous  supplement  to  the  paper  ("The  Smil- 
ing Sheet")  was  another  means  for  educational  propa- 
ganda. In  it  were  presented  little  educational  sermons 
in  humorous  fashion.  Each  month's  issue  carried  a 
theme — presented  in  cartoon  form.  School  buildings 
were  presented  one  month.  At  other  times  school  at- 
tendance, the  shifting  of  teachers,  the  hospitality  of  the 
people  and  such  ideas  were  dealth  with.  The  peiple,  in 
general,  enjoyed  the  humorous  section  of  the  paper  and 
saw  the  serious  point  presented  by  it. 

C.      SOCIAL  PHASES  OE  THE  TEACHERS'   MEETINGS 

The  teachers'  meetings  had  a  purpose  beyond  the 
improvement  of  the  technique  of  teaching.  The  im- 
provement of  technique  of  teaching  was  the  chief  pur- 
pose and  was  the  idea  around  which  the  program  was 
made,  but  it  was  not  the  sole  purpose.  Community 
attitude  toward  education  is  as  important  as  the  teach- 
ers' technique,     Each  meeting  of  the  teachers,  there- 


COMMUNITY  ACTIVITIES  01^  THE  SUPERVISOR         45 

fore,  was  so  arranged  that  the  educational  attitude  of 
some  community  might  be  influenced. 

The  place  of  the  meeting  was  changed  each  time. 
There  were  eight  meetings  during  the  year.  Seven 
communities  served  as  the  hosts  for  these  meetings. 
The  place  was  determined  by  invitation.  There  were 
more  invitations  than  there  were  meetings. 

The  professional  part  of  the  meeting  started  at  lo 
a.  m.  on  Saturday  morning  and  continued  until  noon. 
At  noon  the  people  of  the  community  in  which  the 
meeting  was  being  held  came  and  brought  dinner  for 
the  crowd.  The  noon  hour  was  always  a  delightful 
one,  not  only  hecause  of  the  bountiful  and  delightful 
dinner  served,  but  because  of  the  cordiality  of  the 
people. 

The  afternoon  meetings  were  for  the  pleasure  and 
inspiration  of  the  people  of  the  community.  To  this 
the  teachers,  children,  outside  speakers,  and  the  people 
themselves  contributed.  Usually  some  theme  of  rural 
interest  was  discussed  as  a  part  of  the  program.  To 
these  meetings  came  some  of  the  leading  educators  of 
the  state  as  speakers.  When  the  meetings  first  began 
there  was  a  timidity  on  the  part  of  the  teachers,  chil- 
dren, and  people,  but  much  of  this  was  overcome  be- 
fore the  year  ended.  Many  of  them  came  to  have  an 
ease  characteristic  of  people  accustomed  to  participa- 
tion in  public  discussion. 

D.      THE    ''health    and    HAPPINESS^'    MEETINGS 

In  connection  with  the  county  health  forces  the  su- 
pervisor made  a  health  survey  of  his  district  during 
the  month  of  March,  1920.    "The  Joy  Maker"  for  the 


46  rut  VAtU^  OF  SCHOOt  SUPERVISION 

month  of  February  had  prepared  the  public  for  this 
survey.  It  had  presented  the  need  for  knowledge  of 
the  situation.  It  had  boosted  the  work  that  was  being 
done  by  the  Health  Crusaders.  It  had  given  good 
health  recipes  in  the  form  of  rhymes.  It  had  presented 
through  the  humorous  section  of  the  zone  paper  the 
difference  between  the  sickly  and  the  healthy  child. 

Five  meetings  had  been  planned  for  in  various  parts 
of  the  zone,  one  for  each  school  night  of  the  week. 
There  had  been  some  discussion  of  the  approaching 
event  at  the  teachers'  meeting  in  February.  Language 
was  the  school  subject  which  was  to  be  emphasized 
during  the  month  of  March,  but  health  was  the  sub- 
ject which  motivated  practically  all  of  the  language 
work.  In  a  variety  and  number  of  ways  the  subject  of 
health  had  been  presented.  The  teachers  had  ar- 
ranged for  the  entertainment  of  the  surveying  party  of 
five  in  advance  of  the  visit.  The  entertainment  was 
so  arranged  that  just  as  many  homes  as  possible  were 
reached  by  the  members  of  the  party.  The  object  of 
this  was  to  educate  the  people  by  contact  with  them. 

Every  child  was  given  a  very  careful  examination 
and  a  report  was  made  to  his  home.  In  the  zone  news- 
paper for  the  following  month  a  detailed  report  was 
also  given. 

The  night  meetings  at  the  school  buildings  were 
all  very  successful.  An  average  of  seventy-five  per 
cent,  of  all  of  the  people  of  each  school  community 
attended  one  of  these  meetings. 

The  following  subjects  were  discussed  by  the  fol- 
lowing people: 


COMMUNITY  ACTIVITIES  OF  THE:  SUPERVISOR  47 

"Animal  Health  and  Its  Relation  to  Man's  Health" 
— County  Agent. 

"Food  and  Its  Relation  to  Health" — Home  Demon- 
stration Agent. 

"Teeth  and  Their  Relation  to  Health"— A  volun- 
teer dentist. 

"How  to  Keep  Well" — The  County  Red  Cross 
Nurse. 

"School  Buildings  and  Their  Relation  to  Health" — 
Supervisor. 

E.      SPEI.UNG  MATCHES 

An  agency  used  for  excellent  socializing  purposes 
during  the  year  was  the  spelling  match.  These  matches 
were  for  three  purposes: 

1.  To  create  a  community  consciousness  among  the 
people  in  the  experimental  supervisory  zone. 

2.  To  direct  the  attention  of  the  children  and  the 
adults  to  certain  agricultural  terms  and  ideas  through 
spelling  as  a  means. 

3.  To  provide  practice  in  the  spelling  of  certain 
words  that  everyone  should  be  able  to  spell  auto- 
matically. 

The  community  in  which  the  experiment  was  con- 
ducted lay  near  the  town  of  Aberdeen — one  of  the 
largest  towns  in  South  Dakota.  The  effect  of  this 
nearness  to  the  town  was  to  cause  the  rural  people  not 
to  meet  together  or  know  their  rural  neighbors.  All 
of  their  contacts  were  with  people  whom  they  met  in 
the  town.  Some  of  these  were  rural  people  but  they 
did  not  meet  in  a  rural  situation.  There  was  little 
community  consciousness  or  pride.     One  of  the  first 


48  TH^  VALU:^  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 

aims,  therefore,  of  the  supervisor  was  to  get  the  peo- 
ple to  thinking  in  terms  of  their  own  community  and 
come  to  have  a  pride  in  their  part  of  the  county. 

With  this  in  view  the  first  month  that  spelHng  was 
the  subject  to  be  emphasized,  agricultural  words  which 
were  of  importance  to  the  county  were  taken  as  the 
basis  for  study.  At  the  end  of  the  month  all  of  the 
children  and  people  of  the  district  were  brought  to- 
gether at  Warner  for  a  spelling  match — the  adults 
against  the  children.  People  who  had  lived  within 
ten  miles  of  each  other  for  years  but  were  unac- 
quainted became  acquainted  on  that  occasion.  The 
morning  was  occupied  with  the  spelling  match.  The 
afternoon  was  devoted  to  addresses  by  visiting  edu- 
cators. 

When  spelling  was  emphasized  the  second  time  dur- 
ing the  year,  it  was  the  last  month  of  the  supervisor's 
work.  It  was  devoted  to  making  automatic  the  spell- 
ing of  twelve  hundred  and  fifty-three  words  which  con- 
stituted the  ''Suggested  Minimal  Spelling  List,"  by 
Pryor. 

On  Saturday,  April  17th,  the  final  big  spelling  match 
and  social  meeting  of  the  year  was  held  at  Mansfield. 
During  the  week  previous  to  that  event,  the  supervi- 
sor held  spelling  matches  each  night  at  one  of  the 
schools  which  he  had  visited  during  the  day.  To  these 
matches  came  the  children  and  the  adults  of  the  three 
school  districts  which  had  been  visited  during  the  day. 

The  big  spelling  match  held  on  April  17th  at  Mans- 
field was  one  of  the  largest  meetings  ever  held  in  that 
section  of  the  county.  The  social  attitude  manifest  at 
Mansfield  on  that  day  was  in  striking  contrast  to  that 


COMMUNITY  ACTIVITIES  OF  THE)  SUPERVISOR         49 

shown  at  the  earlier  meeting's  of  the  supervisory  zone, 
not  in  spirit  so  much  as  in  extent  of  interest  and  broad- 
ened community  outlook. 

F.      THE  CRUSADE  AGAINST  GOPHERS 

The  ''flicker  tail"  gopher  is  one  of  the  agricultural 
problems  of  Brown  County.  The  gopher  stays  in  the 
ground  all  winter.  In  the  month  of  April,  he  comes 
out  and  begins  to  search  for  food.  The  gophers  are 
very  numerous  in  parts  of  the  county,  so  numerous  in 
fact,  that  they  are  a  real  agricultural  pest. 

The  gopher  is  very  easily  killed  at  this  season  of  the 
year.  As  succulent  food  is  lacking,  they  will  eat  dry 
oats  in  most  hearty  fashion.  In  the  early  days  of  the 
spring,  therefore,  is  the  time  to  poison  them.  Practi- 
cally all  of  the  gophers  of  a  village  can  be  killed  in  one 
day  at  this  time  if  properly  poisoned.  The  supervisor 
felt  that  the  schools  were  the  proper  agency  through 
which  to  work  for  the  accomplishment  of  this  result 
because  children  would  look  upon  the  killing  of  go- 
phers as  a  sport  and  would  go  at  the  task  with  zest. 
Not  only  this,  but  the  children  would  be  more  likely  to 
profit  from  the  teaching  than  would  the  adults  and  they 
would  most  likely  reap  the  benefits  of  their  knowledge 
for  a  far  longer  period  of  time. 

With  these  ideas  in  mind,  the  supervisor  invited  the 
county  agricultural  agent  to  join  him  on  a  week  of 
gopher  extermination.  The  week  of  the  series  of  spell- 
ing matches  discussed  in  another  section  of  this  chap- 
ter was  taken  as  the  most  opportune  time  for  this 
work.  The  people  came  together  for  the  purpose  of 
engaging  in  a  local  spelling  match,  but  they  were  told 


50  THE  VALUE  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 

about  the  gopher  poison  while  there.  Discussion  and 
questions  were  encouraged.  The  effect  was  very  grati- 
fying. 

This  was  but  one  of  the  phases  of  the  supervisor's 
work  which  had  a  direct .  economic  bearing.  Not  so 
much  was  done,  though,  along  economic  Hues  as  might 
have  been  done  and  as  could  easily  be  done  by  a  super- 
visor to  stimulate  the  economic  life  of  the  community. 
If  the  supervisor  is  alert  to  his  opportunity  and  to  the 
needs  of  the  territory  which  he  serves,  much  can  be 
done  along  economic  Hues  which  not  only  will  not  in- 
terfere with  the  efficiency  of  his  regular  work  of  class- 
room supervision  but  which  would  actually  add  to  the 
efficiency  of  it.  Such  work  would  give  him  greater  con- 
tact with  the  business  forces  of  his  territory  and  would 
develop  in  them  a  confidence  in  him  and  his  work  that 
classroom  work  alone  could  never  develop. 


Chapter  VI. 
THE  STATISTICAL  DATA  OF  THE  EXPERI- 
MENT 

A.      THi:   TESTS 

1.  functions  Tested.  In  order  to  have  reliable 
data  from  which  to  draw  conclusions  as  to  the  value 
of  supervision,  standardized  tests  were  given  in  read- 
ing, spelling,  composition,  penmanship,  and  arithmetic. 
Thirteen  scores  were  secured  for  each  child  with  the 
exception  of  those  in  the  third  and  fourth  grades  for 
whom  the  score  in  fractions  was  omitted.  The  chil- 
dren were  tested  in  the  following  functions : 

(a)  Speed  in  reading,  number  of  words  per  minute 

(b)  Speed  in  answering  questions  on  material  read 

(c)  Index  of  cornprehension  in  reading 

(d)  Reading,  Scale  Alpha  2,  number  of  questions 
answered  correctly 

(e)  Spelling,  percentage  of  words  correctly  spelled 

(f)  Written  composition 

(g)  Penmanship,  speed,  number  of  letters  writ- 
ten per  minute 

(h)      Penmanship,    quality 
(i)     Addition,  number  right 
(j)      Subtraction,  number  right 
(k)      Multiplication,  number  right 
(1)     Division,    number   right 
(m)     Fractions,  number  right 

2.  Tests  and  Scales  Used.    The  following  tests  and 
scales  were  used  in  both  the  initial  and  final  tests: 
Reading : 

51 


52  THE  Value;  of  school  supervision 

Courtis  Standard  Research  Tests,  Silent  Reading, 
No.  2 

Thorndike's  Scale  Alpha  2,  Part  I  and  Part  II 
Spelling: 

Ayres'  Scale,  five  words  each  from  columns,  L,  M, 
N,  O,  Q,  R,  T,  U,  V.  W. 

DiflFerent  words  from  same  columns  used  for  final 
test. 

Composition : 

The  Nassau  County  Supplement  to  the  Hillegas 
Scale. 

Penmanship : 

The  Ayers'   Scale. 

Arithmetic : 

The  Cleveland  Survey  Test. 

3.  When  Tests  were  Given.  The  initial  tests  were 
given  between  Sept.  28th  and  Oct.  loth,  1919.  They 
were  given  to  the  experimental  group  during  the  first 
three  days  of  the  first  week.  During  the  remainder 
of  that  week  and  the  following  week  they  were  given 
to  the  control  group.  There  were  three  school  rooms 
in  the  experimental  group  and  five  school  rooms  in 
the  control  group  not  tested  during  the  days  men- 
tioned above.  They  were  all  tested  during  the  week 
of  October  I3th-i7th. 

The  final  tests  were  given  between  May  3rd  and 
May  14th,  1920,  and  in  the  same  order  in  which  they 
were  .given  during  the  initial  test. 

4.  By  Whom  Tests  were  Administered.  The  fol- 
lowing persons  administered  all  tests,  the  same  person 
testing  the  same  schools  in  both  the  initial  and  final 
tests : 


STATISTICAL  DATA  OF  THE)  KXPERIMKNT  53 

Miss  Lucile  Trott,  County  Supt.  of  Brown  County. 

Miss  Ivy  Husband,  teacher  of  courses  in  tests  and 
measurements,  Northern  Normal  and  Industrial 
School. 

Mr.  J.  W.  Thomas,  Director  of  Extension,  North- 
ern Normal  and  Industrial  School. 

Mr.  M.  S.  Pittman,  who  served  as  supervisor  while 
conducting  the  experiment. 

The  members  of  the  group  who  administered  the 
tests  practiced  the  giving  of  the  tests  so  that  uni- 
formity of  method  might  be  followed. 

5.  By  Whom  Tests  zucre  Scored.  All  test  papers 
were  scored  by  the  members  of  the  classes  in  tests 
and  measurements  of  the  Northern  Normal  and  Indus- 
trial School  of  Aberdeen,  South  Dakota,  under  the 
direction  of  Miss  Ivy  Husband.  While  a  different 
group  of  students  scored  the  papers  in  the  final  tests 
from  that  which  scored  the  initial  test,  the  work  was 
directed  by  the  same  person  and  the  same  procedure 
was  followed  so  that  the  writer  feels  that  the  relia- 
bility of  the  results  could  not  be  affected  therefrom. 

B.       HOW  THi:  DATA  USED  WERE  SECURED 

In  the  experimental  group  were  114  children  who 
constituted  all  of  the  children  in  the  fifteen  schoolrooms 
supervised  who  were  in  grades  three  to  eight  inclusive. 
In  the  control  group  were  225  children  who  consti- 
tuted all  of  the  children  in  twenty-five  schoolrooms  in 
grades  three  to  eight  inclusive. 

All  of  the  scores  of  all  of  the  114  children  in  the 
experimental  group  were  used.  The  scores  of  the  114 
children  in  the  control  group  whose  initial  scores  in 
each  subject  were  most  nearly  equal   to  that  of  the 


54  I'he:  value:  of  school  supervision 

initial  scores  of  the  114  children  in  the  experimental 
group,  were  used.  By  a  comparison  of  the  improve- 
ments made  by  these  114  children  in  each  of  these 
groups,  the  tables  were  derived  which  are  presented 
in  this  chapter. 

C.       HOW  THE  DATA   ARE   PRES«:nTED 

The  data  are  presented  in  three  different  groups  of 
of  tables.  The  first  group  includes  Tables  I  to  VII. 
These  tables  show  each  grade  of  the  experimental 
group  compared  with  the  corresponding  grade  of  the 
control  group  in  all  functions  in  which  the  grade  was 
tested.  A  summary  of  grade  comparisons  is  given  in 
Table  VII.  In  these  tables  two  results  are  secured — 
the  average  experimental  coefficient  and  the  median 
percentage  of  progress  of  the  experimental  group  when 
measured  in  terms  of  progress  of  control  group. 

The  second  group  includes  Tables  VIII  to  XXI.. 
In  these  tables  comparisons  'between  the  experimental 
and  control  groups  are  presented  for  all  functions 
taken  separately.  All  children  in  the  experimental 
group  are  compared  to  all  children  in  the  control  ^roup, 
in  the  amount  of  improvement  which  was  made  in  each 
function.  Table  XXI  is  a  summary  of  these  compari- 
sons. In  these  tables,  one  result  is  secured — the  equated 
difference  between  the  groups  or  the  amount  of  time 
it  will  take  the  control  group  to  attain  the  same 
position  in  amount  of  improvement  now  held  by  the 
experimental  group. 

The  third  group  contains  only  one  table,  Table  XXII. 
In  it  is  presented  a  comparison  of  the  percentage  of 
pupils  in  each  grade  in  each  group  who  improved  in 
each  function. 


STATISTICAL  DATA  0?  THE  KXPlCRIMENT  55 

[NOTE:  Because  of  the  great  number  and  length  of 
tables  from  which  the  data  for  Tables  I  to  XXII 
were  secured  they  are  not  presented  here.  The  original 
scores  from  which  they  were  derived  and  all  test  papers  and 
original  tables  from  which  these  data  are  derived  are  filed 
with  Teachers'  College,  Columbia  University.] 

In  offering  the  tables  which  follow,  the  writer  pro- 
poses to  present  certain  facts.  What  are  the  questions 
to  which  we  expect  these  tables  to  supply  answers? 
They  are — 

1.  Out  of  the  total  number  of  tests  given,  how 
many  results  favored  the  experimental  group? 

2.  Out  of  the  total  number  of  experimental  co- 
efficient points,  how  many  favored  the  experimental 
group  ? 

3.  What  was  the  median  progress  of  the  experi- 
mental group  expressed  in  terms  of  progress  of  the 
control  group? 

In  interpreting  the  meaning  of  each  of  the  figures 
given  in  the  following  tables,  the  following  key  will 
be  helpful.  The  reader  should  take  the  first  line  of 
Table  I  and  follow  it  through.  This  explanation  will 
apply  approximately  to  all  other  functions. 

D.       W^HAT  TABLES  I  TO  VII  SHOW* 

(la)  shows  the  average  improvement  in  number  of 
words  read  per  minute  by  the  experimental 
group. 

(lb)   shows  the  degree  of  unreHability  of  (la). 

(2a)  shows  the  average  improvement  in  number  of 
words  read  per  minute  by  the  control  group. 

♦All  of  the  tabulated  results  presupposes  scaled  data. 
This  is  not  true  of  data  used  in  these  tables.  The  excep- 
tions are  Alpha  2  Reading  results,  and  all  arithmetic  results 
in  which  the  number  of  questions  answered  and  number  of 
examples  solved  correctly  were  taken  as  the  basis  instead 
of  the  scaled  measures  generally  used  for  those  tests.  Since 
the  same  principles  were  applied  to  the  work  of  both  groups, 
the  writer  feels  that  this  does  not  lesson  the  validity  of  the 
measures. 


56  THE  VALUE  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 

(2b)   shows  the  degree  of  unreliabiHty  of  (2a). 

(3a)  shows  the  difference  in  the  average  improve- 
ment of  the  two  groups. 

(3b)   shows  the  degree  of  unrehabiHty  of  (3a). 

(3c)  shows  the  degree  of  certainty  that  the  true 
difference,  if  known,  would  favor  the  group 
which  the  obtained  difference  favors.  Unity 
is  practical  certainty.  As  the  experimental 
coefficient  becomes  greater  or  less  than  unity, 
the  degree  of  certainty  increases  or  dimin- 
ishes accordingly.  The  experimental  coefficient 
is  secured  by  dividing  the  difference  between 
the  two  average  improvements  by  2.78  times 
the  sigma  difference.  (For  fuller  discussion 
of  experimental  coefficient,  see  "How  to 
Measure  in  Education,"  by  W.  A.  McCall. 
-      The  MacMillan  Co.) 

(4a)  shows  the  average  experimental  coefficient 
for  all  functions  in  which  the  grade  was 
tested. 

(4b)   shows  the  unreliability  of  (4a). 

(4c)  shows  the  degree  of  certainty  that  (4a)  fa- 
vors the  experimenal  group  and  is  to  be  in- 
terpreted as  in  (3c). 

(5a)  shows  the  progress  of  the  experimental  group 
in  each  function  expressed  in  percentage  of 
progress  of  control  group. 

(5b)   shows  median  of  progress  expressed  in  (5a). 

NOTE :  The  explanation  given  above  for  reading  applies 
to  all  other  functions  listed  in  the  table.  Each  function  has  its 
own  unit  of  measurement.     See  (A) — Section  i,  this  chapter. 


STATISTICAL  DATA  OF  THE;  EXPERIMENT 


57 


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STATISTICAI,  DATA  OF  THe;  E^XPDRIMENT 


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64  TH^  VALU^  01^  SCHOOI^  SUPERVISION 

The  foregoing  tables  show  how  the  two  groups  rank 
when  they  are  compared  grade  by  grade  in  all  func- 
tions in  which  the  grades  were  tested.  The  sixth  grade 
of  the  experimental  group  made  the  greatest  amount 
of  gain  (209.8%)  and  the  fifth  grade  the  least  amount 
of  gain  of  all  the  grades  (140%)  when  compared  with 
corresponding  grades  of  the  control  group. 

E.      WHAT    TABI.i:S   VIII-XXI    SHOW 

In  order  to  see  how  the  two  groups  compared  in 
their  improvements  in  the  various  functions,  a  series 
of  tables  is  presented  in  which  all  of  the  children  of 
the  experimental  group  are  compared  with  all  of  the 
children  of  the  control  group  in  the  degrees  to  which 
they  have  improved  in  each  function.  These  tables 
answer  two  questions : 

1.  What  was  the  average  amount  of  improvemenr 
made  by  all  of  the  children  of  the  experimental  group 
a.nd  by  all  of  the  children  of  the  control  groups  in  each 
function  ? 

2.  What  is  the  equated  difference  between  the  two 
groups  in  each  function  and  which  group  does  the 
difference  favor? 


STATISTICAL  DATA  01^  THK  e;XPERIMENT  65 

TABLE  VIII.    SPEED  IN  READING.     (114  PUPILS  IN 
EACH  GROUP) 

What  Were   the   Results    for   All    Grades   in   the    Speed 
of   Reading? 


(Unit    Used: 

Number    of    words 

per 

minute) 

Experi.   Group 

Control  Group 

Grades 

Av.  Imp. 

Av.  Imp. 

Third 

75.23 

40.70 

Fourth 

61.26 

40.06 

Fifth 

48.05 

35.79 

Sixth 

73.00 

47.85 

Seventh 

67.68 

34.56 

Eighth 

85.72 

61.35 

Total 

410.94 

260.31 

Av.  Total  Imp. 

68.49 

43.38 

Diff.  of  Av.  Imp. 

25- 

II 

Equated  Difference 

57 

1.  The  experimental  group  made  an  average  im- 
provement of  68.49  words  per  minute  as  against  43.38 
words  for  the  control  group.  The  equated  difference 
is  .57. 

2.  The  equated  difference  means  that  it  would  take 
the  control  group  that  fractional  part  of  a  year  improv- 
ing at  its  present  rate  to  gain  as  great  an  amount  as 
did  the  experimental  group.  It  is  secured  by  sub- 
tracting the  smaller  from  the  larger  of  the  two  aver- 
ages and  dividing  the  Remainder  by  the  smaller  of  the 
averages,   thus: 

68.49—43.38=25.11; 

25.11  /  43.38-=. 57,  the  equated  difference 
In  like  manner  the  equated  differences  were  com- 
puted for  all  other  functions:     (See  "How  to  Meas- 
ure in  Education"— -Wm.  A.  McCall). 


66  THE  VALUE  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 


TABLE  IX.     SPEED  IN  ANSWERING  QUESTIONS  IN 
READING  (114  PUPILS  IN  EACH  GROUP) 

What  Were  the  Results   for  All  Grades  in  the   Speed   with 
Which  They  Answered  Questions  Based  on  the  Reading? 


(Unit  Used: 

Number 

of     Questions     Answered     in     Five 

Minutes) 

Experi.  Group 

Control  Group 

Grades 

Av.  Imp. 

Av.  Imp. 

Third 

20.09 

9.95 

Fourth 

17.63 

11.53 

Fifth 

17.63 

5-II 

Sixth 

16.15 

11.60 

Seventh 

16.88 

14.62 

Eighth 

14.84 

9.56 

Total 

102.22 

62.37 

Total  Av.  Imp. 

17.03 

10.39 

Diff.  of  Av. 

Imp. 

6.64 

Equated  Difference  .63 

1.  The  experimental  group  made  an  average  im- 
provement of  17.03  questions  as  against  10.39  ques- 
tions for  the  control  group. 

2.  The  equated  difference  is  .63. 


STATISTICAI,  DATA  OF  THE:  KXPE^RIMENT  67 


TABLE  X.    INDEX  OF  COMPREHENSION  IN  READ- 
ING.    (114  PUPILS  IN  EACH  GROUP.) 

What  Were  the  Results  for  All  Grades  in  Comprehension 
of  Reading? 


(Unit 

Used: 

Percentage   of   An 

swerj 

;   Correct) 

Experi.   Group 

Control  Group 

Grades 

Av.  Imp. 

Av.  Imp. 

Third 

.04 

—  1.27 

Fourth 

' 

—6.00 

—12.48 

Fifth 

—5.48 

-4.48 

Sixth 

3.85 

2.70 

Seventh 

1.63 

,     —   I.OO 

Eighth 

—1.94 

.88 

Total 

-7.98 

—15.65 

Total  A\ 

^  Imp. 

—1.33 

—  2.61 

Diff.  of 

Av. 

Imp. 

+  1 

.28 

Equated  Difference 

+ 

.96 

1.  The  experimental   group   had   an   average   loss 
1.38  as  against  a  loss  of  2.61  for  the  control  group. 

2.  The   equated   difference   is   .96  and   favors   the 
experimental  group. 


68 


THE  VALUE  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 


TABLE  Xl/  NUMBER  OF  QUESTIONS   CORRECTLY 

ANSWERED  ON  SCALE  ALPHA  2.     (114 

PUPILS  IN  EACH  GROUP) 

What  Were   the  Results   for  All  Grades  in  the  Number  of 

Questions  Which  They  Answered  Correctly 

in   Scale  Alpha  2? 

(Unit  Used:     Number  of  Questions   Correctly  Answered   in 
20  Minutes) 


Experi.  Group 

Control  Group 

Grades 

Av.  Imp. 

Av.  Imp. 

Third 

4.00 

2.22 

Fourth 

2»1 

Fifth 

6.16 

2.23 

Sixth 

3.40 

1.5s 

Seventh 

5.62 

2.25 

Eighth 

S.44 

1.39 

Total 

30.56 

12.48 

Total  Av, 

.  Imp. 

5.09 

2.08 

Diff.  of  . 

A.V,  Imp. 

3.01 

Equated  Difference 

1.44 

1.  The  experimental  group  made  an  average  im- 
provement of  5.09  questions  as  against  2.08  for  the 
control  group. 

2.  The  equated  difference  is  1.44. 


STATISTICAL  DATA  OF  THE:  e:xPE:riMENT  69 


TABLE  XII.  SPELLING  (114  PUPILS  IN  EACH 
GROUP) 

What  Were  the  Results  for  All  Grades  in  Spelling? 

(Unit   Used:     Percentage   of   Wo.rds   Correctly   Spelled) 

Experi.  Group  Control  Group 


Grades 

Av.  Imp. 

Av.  Imp. 

Third 

20.36 

5-91 

Fourth 

18.10 

3.68 

Fifth 

14.90 

3-53 

Sixth 

10.70 

5.10 

Seventh 

16.00 

4-94 

Eighth 

9.00 

5.62 

Total 

88.16 

28.68 

Total  Av.  Imp. 

14.69. 

4.78 

Difif.  of  Av.  Imp. 

9.91 

Equated  Difference 

2.07 

1.  The  experimental  group  made  an  average  im- 
provement of  14.96  as  against  4.78  for  the  control 
group. 

2.  The  equated  difiference  is  2.07. 


yo  THE  VALUE  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 


TABLE  XIII.    COMPOSITION   (114  PUPILS  IN  EACH 
GROUP) 

What   Were   the   Results    for   All    Grades    in    Written   Com- 
position? 

(Unit   Used:  Steps    on   the    Nassau    Supplement   to    Hillegas 
Scale) 


Experi.  Group 

Control  Group 

Grades 

Av.  Imp. 

Av.  Imp. 

Third 

I.2I 

.70 

Fourth 

74 

.34 

Fifth 

.76 

.86 

Sixth 

.28 

.10 

Seventh 

1.20 

.27 

Eighth 

.49 

.25 

Total 

4.68 

2.55 

Av.  Total  Imp.       ' 

.78 

.42 

Diflf.  of  Av.  Imp. 

.z^ 

Equated  Diflference 

.85 

1.  The  experimental  group  made  an  average  im- 
provement of  .78  as  against  .42  for  the  control  group. 

2.  The  equated  difference  is  .85. 


STATISTICAL  DATA  0^  TH^  KXpERIMe:NT  Jl 


TABLE  XIV.    SPEED  IN  PENMANSHIP  (114  PUPILS 
IN   EACH   GROUP) 

What  Were   the   Results    for   All   Grades   in   Speed  in    Pen- 
manship ? 

(Unit  Used:     Number   of   Letters  Written  per   Minute) 

Experi.  Group  Control  Group 


Grades 

Av.  Imp, 

Av.  Imp. 

Third 

20.95 

10.86 

Fourth 

10.26 

10.00 

Fifth 

28.00 

9." 

Sixth 

16.00 

4.30 

Seventh 

9.00 

7.25 

Eighth 

4.88 

.22 

Total 

89.09 

41.74 

Total  Av,  Imp. 

14.86 

6.96 

Diff.  of 

Av.  Imp. 

7.90 

Equated  Difference 

I.13 

1.  The  experimental  group  made  an  average  im- 
provement of  14.86  letters  per  minute  as  against  6.96 
for  the  control  group. 

2.  The  equated  difference  is  1.13. 


';/2  the;  value  of  school  supervision 


TABLE  XV.  QUALITY  IN  PENMANSHIP  (114  PUPILS 
IN  EACH  GROUP) 

What  Were   the  Results    for   All   Grades   in   the   Quality   of 
Penmanship? 

(Unit    Used:     Steps    on    Ayer's    Penmanship    Scale) 

Experi.  Group  Control  Group 

Grades  Av.  Imp.  Av.  Imp. 


Third 

—  7.59 

—  3.50 

Fourth 

—  7.25 

—  8.94 

Fifth 

-8.65 

—  1.00 

Sixth 

-8.85 

—  7.50 

Seventh 

-6.31 

—  2.68 

Eighth 

—  Z-7^ 

i-    <.o  ^ 

Total 

—42.37 

—20.57 

Total  Av.  Imn. 

-7.06 

—  3.43 

Diff.  of 
Equated 

Av.  Imp. 
Difference 

-2.63 
-  .70 

'>i.  The  experimental  group  has  an  average  of  7.06 
as  against  a  loss  of  3.43  for  the  control  group. 

2.  The  equated  difference  is  .'j6  and  favors  the  con- 
trol group. 

NOTE:  What  the  relative  merits  of  speed  and  quality  are 
in  the  complex  known  as  penmanship  is  not  estimated.  What 
would  have  been  the  quality  of  the  penmanship  of  the  ex- 
perimental group  if  it  had  written  at  the  rate  of  the  control 
group  is  not  known  The  results  for  each  of  the  func- 
tions— speed  and  quality — are  therefore  given — and  each 
may  be  considered  for  what  it  is  wcTrth. 


STATISTICAI.  DATA  OF  THE)  -E:XPKRIME:NT 


/  :, 


TABLE    XVI.    NUMBER   RIGHT    IN    ADDITION    (114 
PUPILS    IN    EACH    GROUP) 

What  Were  the  Results  for  All  Grades  in  Addition? 


(Unit  Used:     Number  of  Examples 

Corr 

ectly 

Solved  in 

Fixed  Time) 

Experi.  Group 

Control  Group 

Grades 

Av.  Imp. 

Av.  Imp. 

Third 

10.59 

6.04 

Fourth 

13.14 

10.00 

Fifth 

11.32 

8.10 

Sixth 

12.80 

4.70 

Seventh 

11.38 

7-25 

Eighth 

11.00 

3-39 

Total 

70.23 

39.48 

Total  Av.  Imp. 

11.70 

6.58 

Diff.  of 
Equated 

Av.  Imp. 
Diflference 

S.12 

'17 

1.  The  experimental  group  made  an  average  im- 
provement of  11.70  examples  solved  correctly  as 
against  6.58  for  the  control  group. 

2.  The  equated  difference  is  .''j'j  and  favors  the  ex- 
perimental group. 


74  ^HS  VAtUi;  OF  SCHOOL  SUPH^RVISION 


TABLE   XVII.    NUMBER    RIGHT    IN    SUBTRACTION 
(114  PUPILS  IN  EACH  GROUP) 

What  Were  the  Results  for  All  Grades  in  Subtraction? 


(Unit  Used:     Number  of  Examples 

Correctly  Solved 

in 

Fixed  Time) 

Experi,  Group 

Control  Group 

Grades 

Av.  Imp. 

Av. 

Imp. 

Third 

7.12 

3.03 

Fourth 

10.84 

1.18 

Fifth 

9.22 

6.79 

Sixth 

10.55 

3.80 

Seventh 

8.56 

3-00 

Eighth 

10.39 

4.56 

Total 

56.68 

22.36 

Total  Av.  Imp. 

9.44 

372 

Diff.  of  Av.  Imp. 

5-12 

Equated  Difference 

1.53 

1.  The  experimental  group  made  an  average  im- 
provement of  9.44  as  against  3.44  for  the  control 
group. 

2.  The  equated  difference  is  1.53  and.  favors  the 
experimental  group. 


STATISTICAI,  DATA  O?  THi:  e:XPE:rIME:NT 


75 


TABLE    XVIII.    NUMBER    RIGHT    IN    MULTIPLICA- 
TION  (114  PUPILS  IN  EACH  GROUP) 

What  Were  the  Results  for  All  Grades  in  Multiplication? 


(Unit    Used: 

Number 

of    Examples 

Correctly 

Solved    in 

Fixed  Time) 

• 

Experi.   Group 

Control  Group 

Grades 
Third 

Av.  Imp. 
II.81 

Av.  Imp. 
4.18 

Fourth 

II. 12 

7-37 

Fifth 

11.90 

8.16 

Sixth 

8.90 

475 

Seventh 

8.38 

6.42 

Eighth 

7.33 

4.1 1 

Total 

59.44 

34.99 

Total  Av.  Imp. 

9.90 

5.83 

DifiF.  of  Av.  Imp. 

4.07 

Equated  Difference 

.69 

1.  The  experimental  group  made  an  average  im- 
provement of  9.90  examples  as  against  5.83  for  the 
control   group. 

2.  The  equated  difference  is  .69  and  favors  the 
experimental  group. 


76  THE  VALUE  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 


TABLE    XIX.    NUMBER    RIGHT    IN    DIVISION    (114 
PUPILS  IN  EACH  GROUP) 

What  Were  the  Results  for  All  Grades  in  Division? 


(Unit  Used:     Number  of  Examples 

Correctly  Solved 

in 

Fixed  Time) 

Experi.  Group 

Control  Group 

Grades 

Av.  Imp. 

Av. 

Imp. 

Third 

11.27 

S.81 

Fourth 

10.84 

5.68 

Fifth 

7.64 

8.27 

Sixth 

10.30 

5.20 

Seventh 

10.50 

6.50 

Eighth 

8.61 

372 

Total 

5^M^' 

3518 

Total  Av.  Imp. 

9.86 

5.86 

DiflF.  of  Av.  Imp. 

4.00 

Equated  Difference 

.69 

1.  The  experimental  group  made  an  average  im- 
provement of  9.86  examples  as  against  5.86  for  the 
control  group. 

2.  The  equated  difference  is  .69  and  favors  the 
experimental  group. 


STATISTICAL  DATA  OF  THE;  EXPERIMENT  'J'J 


TABLE    XX.     FRACTIONS     (114    PUPILS    IN    EACH 
GROUP) 

What  Were   the   Results    for   the   Fifth,    Sixth,    Seventh   and 
Eighth    Grades    in    Fractions? 

(Unit  Used:     Number  of  Examples  Correctly  Solved  in 
Fixed  Time) 


Experi.   Group 

Control  Group 

Grades 

Av.  Imp. 

Av.  Imp. 

Third 

Fourth 

Fifth 

3.43 

1.89 

Sixth 

6.05 

I. IS 

Seventh 

4.37 

i.ic 

Eighth 

3.34 

2.17 

Total 

17.19 

6.4c 

Av.  Total  Imp. 

4.29 

i.6c 

Diff.  of  Av.  Imp. 

2.69 

Equated  Difference 

1.68 

1.  The  experimental  group  made  an  average  im- 
provement of  4.29  examples  as  against  1.60  for  the 
control  group. 

2.  The  equated  difference  is  1.68  and  favors  the 
experimental  group. 

Since  the  amounts  of  improvements  in  the  ^thirteen 
different  functions  are  not  comparable  measures,  no 
summary  table  can  be  given  for  them. 

The  equated  differences,  though,  are  approximately 
comparable  and  their  total  results  are  therefore  given 
in  the  next  table. 


78  THK  VALUE  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 


TABLE  XXI.    SUMMARY  OF  EQUATED  DIFFER- 
ENCES 

The  length  of  time  that  it  would  take  the  slower  group  to 
make  as  much  impro^ement  as  did  the  faster  group  is  ex- 
pressed in  the  fractional  part  of  a  year.  The  rate  of  the 
control  group  is  used  as  the  basis  in  all  cases.  The  degree  of 
superiority  of  the  fast  group  over  the  slow  group  is  expressed 
as  follows  for  each  function : 

1.  Rate  of  silent  reading 57  Years 

2.  No.    of    questions    answered 63  " 

3.  Index  of  comprehension  in  reading 96  " 

4.  Reading,  Scale  Alpha  2,  questions  right 1.44  " 

5.  Spelling,    percentage    correct 2.07  " 

6.  Comoosition,   Nassau   Supp.   Hillegas  Scale 

Units     85 

7.  Penmanship,    speed    1.13  " 

8.  Addition,  number  right .'j']  " 

9.  Subtraction,    number    right 1.53  " 

10.  Multiplication,  number   right 6g        " 

11.  Division,  number  right 69         " 

12.  Fractions,   number   right    1.68 

13.  Pennmanship,  quality,  favoring  control  group     .76 

Total  No,  of  points  favoring  experimental  group 13.01 

Total  No.  of  points  favoring  control  group 76 

Algebraic   sum  of   Equated    Difference 12.25 

The  average  equated  difference  is 942  years. 


STATISTICAL  DATA  OF  THE  EXPERIMENT  /Q 

From  the  foregoing,  it  will  be  seen  that  out  of  the 
thirteen  functions  compared,  the  experimental  group 
was  superior  to  the  control  group  in  twelve  functions 
and  inferior  in  only  one. 

The  total  equated  difference  shows  that  it  would  still 
take  the  control  group  roughly  .942  of  a  year  improv- 
ing at  its  own  speed  to  attain  the  same  amount  of  im- 
provement already  attained  by  the  experimental  group. 
Stated  in  another  way,  we  may  say  that  the  experi- 
mental group  did  194.2%  as  much  in  the  same  length 
of  time  as  did  the  control  group. 

By  the  other  method,  summarized  in  Table  VII,  the 
experimental  group  did  193.75%  as  much  as  did  the 
control  group  in  the  same  length  of  time.  Averaging 
the  two,  we  can  say  that  by  these  two  measures  the 
experimental  group  did  approximately  194%  as  much 
in  the  same  length  of  time  as  did  the  control  group. 

One  other  method  of  comparison  of  the  two  groups 
is  given  in  Table  XXII.  In  this  table  is  presented  the 
actual  percentage  of  children  in  each  grade  who  made 
improvements  in  each  function  during  the  year.  The 
table  answers   three  questions : 

1.  What  percentage  of  pupils  of  each  grade  of  each 
group  improved  in  each  function?  (Read  the  percent- 
ages opposite  functions.) 

2.  What  is  the  average  percentage  of  pupils  in  each 
grade  of  each  group  who  improved  in  all  subjects? 
(Read  averages  at  bottom  of  table.) 

3.  What  is  the  percentage  of  children  in  all  grades 
in  each  group  who  improved  in  each  function?  (Read 
the  .averages  for  each  group  opposite  the  functions.) 


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STATISTICAL  DATA  OF  THE  KXPKRIMENT  8[ 

1.  Table  XXH  shows  that  the  average  number  of 
pupils  of  each  grade  of  the  experimental  group,  who 
improved  in  all  functions,  is  higher  in  every  instance 
than  the  average  for  the  corresponding  grade  in  the 
control  group.     (Read  averages  at  bottom  of  table.) 

2.  It  shows,  also,  that  the  average  for  all  grades 
of  the  experimental  group  is  higher  for  twelve  out  of 
the  thirteen  functions  than  are  the  corresponding  aver- 
ages for  the  control  group.  (Read  averages  at  sides  of 
table.) 

The  only  case  of  superiority  out  of  the  nineteen  aver- 
ages s.ecured  is  that  of  quality  of  penmanship  in  which 
an  average  of  only  i6  per  cent,  of  the  experimental 
group  show  improvement  as  against  25  per  cent  of  the 
control  group. 

E.      SUMMARY  OF   STATISTICAL   RESULTS 

By  all  of  the  methods  of  comparison  shown  in  tables 
I  to  XXII  the  results  of  the  year's  work  by  the  experi- 
mental group  are  superior  to  those  by  the  control 
group.    The  results  summarized  are  as  follows : 

1.  Out  of  76  average  improvement  scores  the  ex- 
perimental group  was  superior  in  67.     (Table  VII.) 

2.  Out  of  a  total  of  51.67  experimental  coefficient 
points,  the  total  measures  showing  the  degree  of  relia- 
bility that  the  differences  indicated  are  properly  placed, 
48.62  points  favor  the  experimental  group.  (Table 
VII.) 

3.  The  meTlian  progress  of  the  experimental  group, 
when  expressed  in  terms  of  the  progress  of  the  control 
group  was  193.75%.  (Table  VII.) 

4.  By  the  equated  difference  method  it  is  shown 
that  it  would  take  the  control  group  .942  of  a  year  to 


82  TH^  VAI^UE  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 

reach  the  same  point  of  improvement  attained  by  the 
experimental  group.     (Table  XXI.) 

5.  The  average  number  of  children  for  each  grade 
who  improved  in  all  functions  combined  was  greater 
for  each  of  the  six  grades  in  the  experimental  group 
than  for  the  corresponding  grade  of  the  control  group 
(Table  XXII.) 

6.  The  average  number  of  children  of  all  grades 
combined  who  improved  in  each  function  was  greater 
for  the  experimental  group  than  for  the  control  group 
in  12  out  of  13  functions.     (Table  XXII.) 


Chapte:r   VII. 

RESULTS  OF  SUPERVISION  NOT  SHOWN  BY 

STANDARDIZED  TESTS 

Not  all  of  the  results  of  supervision  can  be  put  down 
in  tables  with  a  coefficient  of  reliability  attached.  The 
results  may  not  be  less  evident  or  less  in  effect  but 
our  means  of  determining  and  recording  them  are  less 
well  standardized.  In  this  chapter  a  few  of  these  less 
well  standardized  results  of  supervision  are  presented. 

A.       RESULTS  INDICATED  BY  THE  CHILDREN 

When  the  initial  test  was  given  in  September,  the 
subject  for  the  composition  was  "What  I  would  like 
to  do  on  Saturday."  The  children,  almost  unanimously 
in  both  groups,  said  that  they  would  most  enjoy  going 
to  Aberdeen  where  they  could  attend  the  picture  show, 
get  ice  cream,  and  do  such  other  things  as  country 
children  do  when  they  go  to  town.  The  response  from 
both  groups  of  children  was  the  same  to  this  subject. 
When  the  final  test  was  given  in  May,  the  subject 
for  the  composition  was  "What  I  have  most  enjoyed 
at  school  this  year."  The  response  to  this  subject 
showed  that  the  pleasure  content  for  the  two  groups 
of  children  had  been  very  different  during  the  year. 

The  six  subjects  most  often  mentioned  by  the  114 
children  in  the  experimental  group  were: 

Recess  games •. . 11  times 

Reading    12       " 

The  zone  newspaper ij       " 

83 


84  THS  VALUE  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 

Public  programs i8       " 

The  supervisor's  visit 41       " 

Spelling  matches  . 53       '*   " 

The  five  subjects  most  often  mentioned  by  the  225 
children  of  the  control  group  were: 

Drawing 19  times 

Parties    20       " 

Spelling  contests 31       " 

Public  programs  at  Christmas 42       " 

Recess  games    88       " 

From  the  above,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  recess  of  the 
children  occupied  the  place  of  lowest  importance  in 
the  experimental  group  but  they  held  the  highest  rank 
among  the  pleasures  of  the  children  of  the  control 
group.  This  was  not  due  to  the  fact  that  recess  games 
had  been  discouraged  in  the  experimental  group,  for 
they  had  not.  On  the  contrary,  the  supervisor  and  the 
teachers  had  encouraged  them.  The  reason  seems  to 
be  simply  that  the  children  of  the  experimental  group 
found  the  other  features  more  interesting.  It  is  pos- 
sible that  this  difference  was  due  to  the  novelty  of  the 
features  named  by  the  children  of  the  experimental 
group.  At  any  rate,  it  is  a  fact  that  the  features  which 
the  children  named  most  often  as  those  which  they 
had  most  enjoyed  during  the  year  were  those  features 
for  which  supervision  was  responsible, 

B.      RESULTS  INDICATED  BY  THE  PATRONS 

There  were  many  evidences  that  the  patrons  were 
pleased  with  supervision  and  that  the  supervision  pro- 
duced real  results  in  changing  their  attitude  toward  the 
school. 


RESULTS  NOT  SHOWN  BY  TKSTS  85 

One  day  while  the  supervisor  was  visiting  in  one  of 
the  schools,  three  parents  came  in  and  visited  at  the 
same  time.  When  the  afternoon  session  closed  the 
principal  of  the  school  said:  "I  have  been  the  prin- 
cipal of  this  school  for  seven  years  and  this  afternoon 
is  the  first  time  that  I  have  ever  had  a  parent  come  and 
really  visit  the  school." 

This  visit  of  these  parents  was  not  an  unsual  instance 
for  the  year.  The  school  records  show  that  in  years 
past  there  had  been  very  little  visiting  by  the  patrons 
of  the  schools.  There  was  not  a  school  in  the  experi- 
mental group  that  did  not  have  a  number  of  visitors 
during  the  year  1919-20.  In  some  of  the  districts, 
every  patron  was  a  school  visitor  at  some  time  during 
the  year.  In  some  of  the  school  districts,  visiting  the 
school  became  one  of  the  adult  diversions  during  the 
winter  months.  The  parents  were  not  only  visitors 
but  were  intelligent  observers  since  they  knew  in  ad- 
vance what  the  school  was  trying  to  accomplish. 

The  patrons  would  often  ask,  when  meeting  the 
supervisor,  how  their  school  compared  with  the  other 
schools  of  the  zone  in  ability  to  read,  do  arithmetic, 
or  perform  whatever  activity  the  zone  was  emphasizing. 
This  showed  that  the  patrons  were  keeping  informed 
as  to  the  activities  of  the  schools  and  were  interested 
in  the  progress  of  the  work. 

The  changing  social  attitude  of  the  people  ex- 
pressed in  the  form  of  private  hospitality  was  one  of 
the  most  noticeable  changes  of  the  year.  The  writer 
was  told  that  previously  the  people  had  rarely  enter- 


86  The;  value  of  school  supervision 

tained  the  superintendent  of  schools  or  other  school 
officials.  This  was  not  due  to  any  lack  of  appreciation 
of  the  importance  of  the  work  or  to  any  antipathy  to 
the  person  of  the  official,  .but  apparently,  the  people  had 
not  thought  of  entertaining  the  school  official  as  a 
social  or  educational  privilege  to  be  sought.  If  the 
official  happened  around  at  meal  time  or  at  night  he 
was  welcomed,  but  he  was  not  invited  in  advance  to 
arrange  his  trip  so  that  he  might  become  their  guest. 
During  the  year  of  the  experiment  the  attitude  changed 
very  much  in  this  particular.  The  supervisor  did  ini- 
tiate the  custom  by  suggestion  but  once  started,  the 
people  kept  it  going  with  increasing  momentum.  Not 
only  was  the  supervisor  the  beneficiary  of  this  hos- 
pitality, but  the  teachers  also. 

From  the  indications  stated  above  and  many  others, 
it  is  believed  that  supervision  of  schools  reached  the 
adults  of  the  community  and  changed  their  attitudes 
toward  school  activities  and  school  officials  in  a  de- 
gree proportionally  as  great  as  it  did  the  life  of  the 
children  in  the  schools. 

The  writer  had  no  means  by  which  to  test  the  educa- 
tional and  social  spirit  of  the  adult  part  of  the  com- 
munity of  the  control  group.  Since  that  group  had 
no  supervisor,  there  was  no  means  by  which  to  check 
it  in  the  items  stated  above. 

In  order  to  get  some  evidence  of  what  the  people 
in  each  group  thought  of  the  efficiency  of  the  schools 
during  the  year  1919-20,  the  writer  asked  the  head  of 
the  rural  department  of  the  Normal  School  to  send 


RESULTS  NOT  SHOWN  BY  TESTS  8/ 

letters  to  all  of  the  patrons  of  both  groups.     The  fol- 
lowing letter  was  sent: 

My  Dear 

The  Northern  Normal  and  Industrial  School  is  anxious  to 
become  of  more  service  to  the  rural  schools  of  Dakota.  In 
order  that  it  may  be  guided  in  its  work,  it  needs  and  seeks 
the  advice  and  counsel  of  the  rural  people  of  the  state.  For 
this  reason  it  is  addressing  the  following  letter  to  you.  Will 
you  be  good  enough  to  answer  the  following  questions?  Please 
be  perfectly  frank  and  answer  them  just  as  you  feel.  Your 
replies  will  be  held  confidential  and  will  be  seen  only  by  us 
and  will  be  used  only  to  guide  us  in  the  work  that  we  shall  do 
in  working  for  the  schools. 
I  am, 

Yours  very  truly, 

L.  B.  Sipple, 
Head  of  the  Rural  Department. 

1.  Do  you  think  that  your  community's  interest  in  your 
school  has  been  greater,  the  same,  or  less  this  year  than 
in   former  years? 

2.  Who  do  you  think  is  responsible  for  this  difference  this 
year? 

3.  What  evidence  have  you  of  the  truth  of  your  statements? 


(a)     Have  there  been  fewer  or  more  public  meetings  at 

the   schoolhouse  ? 

(b)     Who  prompted  these  meetings  ? 

(c)  Have  the  children,  while  at  home,  talked  more,  the 
same,  or  less  about  their  school  work  than  in  for- 
mer years? 

(d)  Has  your  teacher  been  more,  the  same,  or  less  popu- 
lar this  year  than  formerly  ? 

(e)  Have  the  children  looked  forward  to  school 
events   more    or    less     this     year     than      formerly? 


(f)  Have  the  children  been  more  interested  in  their  stu- 
dies or  in  the  games  at  school  ? 

(g)  In   what   subjects   have   they   been   most   interested? 


(h)  Have  the  people  shown  more,  the  same,  or  less  in- 
terest in  entertaining  in  their  homes  the  teacher  and 
the  school  officials  who  have  visited  your  school  this 
year  ? 

(i)  Are  the  people  of  your  community  more  interested 
in    the    consolidation    of    schools    than    formerly? 


88  THE  VALUE  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 

If  so,  what  or  who  has  caused  this  change  in  school 
thought? '  ' 

Please  write  below  any  thoughts  you  may  have  as  to  how  the 
rural  schools  can  be  improved  and  what  we,  as  a  school, 
can  do. 


From  the  letter  it  can  be  seen  that  there  was  noth- 
ing in  it  to  suggest  to  the  reader  that  its  purpose  was 
to  get  a  reaction  on  the  subject  of  supervision.  Ques- 
tions I  and  2,  nevertheless,  did  have  that  as  their  pur- 
poses. 

There  were  only  twenty  replies  from  the  experi- 
mental group  and  fifteen  from  the  control  group.  Of 
the  twenty  replying  from  the  experimental  group,  all 
said  that  the  schools  had  been  better  than  formerly  and 
that  the  supervisor  was  chiefly  responsible  for  the  dif- 
ference. Ten  replies  from  the  control  group  said  that 
there  had  been  little  perceptible  difference.  Five  in- 
stances reported  that  the  schools  were  better  than  for- 
merly and  said  that  the  teacher  in  charge  was  respon- 
sible. 

The  number  of  replies  was  not  sufficient  to  justify 
the  most  reliable  conclusions  but  it  may  be  said  that 
the  replies  from  both  groups  were  from  the  most  in- 
telligent people  of  the  communities  from  which  they 
came.  In  so  far  as  the  replies  represent  all  of  the  peo- 
ple, therefore,  it  may  be  said  that  those  who  had  had 
supervision  during  the  year  had  appreciated  its  value. 


RESLTLTS   NOT  SHOWN  EY  TESTS  89 

C.      RESULTS  INDICATED  BY  THE  TEACHERS 

At  the  beginning  of  the  year  the  teachers  of  both 
groups  filled  out  a  questionnaire  in  which  the  amount 
of  reading  done  during  the  previous  year  was  asked 
for.  It  was  found  that  but  little  reading  had  been 
done  beyond  that  required  by  law  as  a  part  of  the 
Reading  Circle  work.  This  was  true  of  the  teachers 
of  both  groups  alike.  Even  that  which  had  been  done, 
the  evidence  indicated  had  been  done  quite  super- 
ficially. At  the  end  of  the  school  year  1919-20,  the 
teachers  of  both  groups  were  again  asked  to  state  the 
amount  of  reading  done  during  the  year  just  closing. 
The  replies  showed  that  the  teachers  in  the  experimen- 
tal group  had  each  read  an  average  of  8.6  books  dur- 
ing the  session,  while  the  teachers  in  the  control  group 
had  read  an  average  of  2.6  books.  It  further  showed 
that  the  teachers  of  the  former  group  had  attended  an 
average  of  6.1  teachers'  meetings,  while  the  teachers  in 
the  latter  group  had  attended  an  average  of  2  meet- 
ings, both  of  which  had  been  required  by  law.  It 
further  showed  that  three  of  the  teachers  of  the  15 
in  the  experimental  group  were  taking  extension 
courses  with  the  Normal  School,  while  none  of  the  25 
of  the  control  group  were  doing  so. 

These  facts  would  indicate  that  the  teachers  under 
supervision  were  really  growing  professionally.  This 
means  even  more  when  it  is  remembered  that  the 
teachers  in  the  experimental  group  were  personally 
participating  in  the  teachers'  meetings  which  they  at- 
tended, practically  all  of  them  at  some  time  teaching 
lessons  for  the  observation  of  the  other  teachers.  The 
reading  which  the  teachers  in  this  group  did  was  also 


90  THK  VALUE  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 

probably  of  a  much  more  thorough  type  since  there 
was  an  immediate  purpose  for  what  they  read.  It  had 
a  place  in  the  scheme  which  they  were  following. 
Some  quotations  taken  from  letters  in  reply  to  a  ques- 
tionnaire sent  out  by  the  county  superintendent  will 
make  this  point  more  clear. 

One  teacher  said:  "Previously,  I  seldom  read  more 
professional  books  than  was  required  for  the  Reading 
Circle  work,  as  we  were  never  urged  to  read  more." 

Another  teacher  said :  "Previously  the  superin- 
tendent's frequent  and  emphatic  'Our  teachers  must 
be  professional'  was  all  that  inspired  me  to  do  any 
professional  reading  and  that  was  only  the  Reading 
Circle  books  and  my  professional  magazines.  The 
present  plan  has  prompted  me  to  more  professional 
reading  than  I  have  done  before.  The  reason  is  that 
I  have  found  out  the  real  reason  for  professional  read- 
ing. The  first  month  the  reading  was  a  real  trial.  I 
did  it  though  and  found  it  to  be  beneficial.  Our  read- 
ing has  always  been  assigned,  that  is,  references  given. 
I  was  surprised  to  find  that  I  came  to  desire  something 
to  read  on  our  problem.  I  found  recently  in  my  col- 
lection of  books  some  that  I  had  once  read  for  Read- 
ing Circle  work.  Upon  rereading  them,  I  found  that  I 
had  only  skimmed  them  before.  I  can  account  for 
this  only  in  this  way:  I  had  a  chance  to  specifically 
apply  what  I  read.  My  educational  magazines  have 
been  of  greater  use  to  me,  also,  I  think  for  this  rea- 
son." 

Another  teacher  said:  "Previously  I  have  read  only 
what  was  required  for  the  Reading  Circle  work.  The 
plan  this  year  has  prompted  me  to  do  more  than  ever 


RESULTS  NOT  SHOWN  BY  TESTS  QI 

before,  because  as  each  month  approaches  I  know  what 
subject  I  shall  work  upon,  while  before  I  simply  took  a 
book  and  read  it  through  chapter  after  chapter  without 
stopping  to  apply  it.  I  was  reading  for  the  sake  of 
reading  the  book,  not  for  the  purpose  of  improving  my 
work  the  next  day  as  I  do  now." 

That  the  teachers  themselves  appreciated  supervi- 
sion was  evidenced  not  only  by  their  uniform  co-oper- 
ation and  professional  spirit  but  also  by  their  personal 
attitude  toward  the  supervisor. 

D.      RESULTS  OF  SPECIAL   CAMPAIGNS 

I.  The  Health  Campaign.  It  was  not  possible  to 
appraise  the  results  of  the  campaign  for  better  health 
before  the  school  year  closed.  Many  children  did  have 
teeth  cleaned  and  cavaties  filled.  A  few  had  glasses 
fitted.  Reports  from  the  zone  since  the  close  of  the 
experiment  indicate  that  a  few  have  had  more  serious 
corrections  made,  such  as  the  removal  of  tonsils  and 
adenoids.  To  what  extent,  though,  this  is  true  and 
not  also  true  in  the  control  group  the  writer  had  no 
means  of  ascertaining.  Both  districts  had  the  same 
county  nurse  and  she  gave  the  same  attention  to  both 
groups.  The  question  is,  to  what  extent  did  the  pub- 
licity and  combined  effort  of  a  number  of  people  work- 
ing together  in  the  experimental  group  produce  greater 
effect  than  when  the  nurse  worked  alone  in  the  control 
group  ? 

The  writer  feels  that  perhaps  the  greater  results  of 
the  campaign  would  be  recorded  in  the  changed  out- 
look and  general  conduct  of  the  people  rather  than  in 
the  number  of  children  who  had  special  work  done  on 
teeth,  eyes  and  throat. 


92  THi:  VALUE  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 

2.  The  Campaign  Against  Gophers.  The  oppor- 
tunity for  checking  the  effect  of  the  gopher  campaign 
was  even  less  than  was  that  of  the  health  campaign. 
This  was  true  for  the  following  reasons : 

(a)  If  the  poisoning  method  succeeded,  very  few 
of  the  gophers  would  ever  be  found,  since  the  method 
used  so  operates  that  the  gophers  go  to  their  holes 
before  dying. 

(b)  The  number  of  gophers  in  the  experimental 
territory  and  in  the  control  territory  would  have  had 
to  be  known  before  and  after  the  campaign.  This  was 
impossible. 

(c)  The  value  of  the  amount  of  destruction  which 
one  gopher  would  render  in  one  year  and  amount  of 
his  progeny  in  succeeding  years  would  need  to  be 
known.    This  has  been  estimated  but  is  not  known. 

(d)  The  educational  benefit  derived  by  the  people 
— children  and  adults — as  a  result  of  the  campaign 
against  the  gophers  is  not  known. 

While  none  of  these  necessary  facts  are  known,  the 
writer  feels  safe  in  the  assumption  that  there  were 
positive  results  in  all  of  these  particulars  to  such  a  de- 
gree as  to  make  the  campaign  justifiable  as  an  allied 
project  to  the  school  work. 


Summarizing  the  effects  of  supervision  which  are 
not  measurable  by  standardized  tests,  we  may  say  that 
the  phases  are  numerous  and  important,  but  that  the 
evidence  is  somewhat  nebulous.  In  the  foregoing  dis- 
cussion it  has  been  pointed  out  that  the  attitude  of  the 
children  in  both  groups  in  September  was  the  same 


re:sults  not  shown  by  t^sts  93 

toward  what  constituted  a  Saturday's  pleasure,  but  in 
May  the  attitude  of  the  two  groups  was  very  different 
as  to  what  they  had  most  enjoyed  at  school  during  the 
year.  In  the  experimental  group,  parents  visited  the 
schools  during  the  year  as  they  had  not  done  pre- 
viously. They  entertained  the  supervisor,  they  at- 
tended more  public  meetings,  they  put  forth  especial 
effort  to  render  unusual  courtesies  to  the  teachers.  All 
of  these  acts  were  the  result  of  an  attitude  which  the 
supervisor  had  cultivated  by  providing  opportunities 
for  its  expression. 


Chapter  VIII. 

RESULTS  OF  SUPERVISION  RESTATED  AND 
DISCUSSED 

In  evaluating  the  outcomes  of  any  endeavor  in  which 
they  are  the  product  of  human  association,  it  is  Hkely 
that  the  abstract  results  of  the  undertaking  cannot  be 
dissociated  wholly  from  the  personalities  of  the  people 
engaged.  It  seems  fair  to  conclude  that  this  principle 
would  apply  to  the  supervision  of  country  schools. 

In  a  questionnaire  sent  out  by  the  superintendent  of 
Brown  County  to  the  teachers  in  the  experimental 
group,  the  superintendent  asked  the  teachers:  "To 
what  extent  do  you  think  the  success  of  supervision  in 
your  zone  is  the  result  of  the  particular  plan  used  and 
to  what  extent  is  it  the  result  of  the  personality  of  the 
supervisor?" 

In  all  of  the  replies  the  teachers  said  that  the  per- 
sonality of  the  supervisor  was  perhaps  of  the  greater 
importance  even  though  they  felt  the  particular  plan 
used  was  the  best  one  through  which  personality  might 
function. 

The  conclusions  which  follow  must  be  interpreted, 
then,  in  the  light  of  the  personality  of  the  supervisor 
and  the  teachers  engaged.  If  those  personalities  had 
been  stronger,  probably  greater  results  would  have 
been  secured;  if  they  had  been  weaker,  probably  less 
good  results  would  have  been  achieved. 

A.      THE    RESULTS    AND   THE    MEANS    THROUGH    WHICH 
THEY  WERE  SECURED  WERE 

I.  The  children  in  the  supervised  schools  advanced 
194  per  cent,  as  far  during  seven  months  in  the  particu- 

94* 


RESULTS  RESTATED  AND  DISCUSSED         95 

lar  functions  under  investigations  as  did  the  children 
with  whom  they  were  compared. 

The  agencies  of  supervision  through  which  this  re- 
sult was  accomplished  were: 

(a)  An  initial  standardized  test  in  the  thirteen 
functions,  the  results  of  which  were  so  published  and 
so  applied  in  the  schools  that  every  child  could  know 
his  own  ability  in  the  function  and  know  how  he 
ranked  with  others  in  his  own  school  and  with  all 
others  in  his  grade  throughout  the  zone. 

(b)  Seven  supervisory  tours  each  of  which  was  de- 
voted to  the  emphasis  of  some  particular  phase  of  the 
school  work  which  would  improve  the  children  in  some 
of  the  functions  under  investigation. 

(c)  A  newspaper  for  the  zone  which  was  used  to 
promote  the  various  phases  of  work  in  such  a  way  that 
the  children  could  understand  what  was  being  done  and 
what  was  the  goal  sought. 

(d)  Getting  the  children  to  feel  that  the  goal 
sought  was  their  own  goal,  not  one  desired  by  the 
teacher  particularly. 

(e)  Group  teachers'  meetings  at  which  were  dis- 
cussed the  principles  upon  which  were  based  the  teach- 
ing practice  after  the    practice   had    been    illustrated. 

(f)  The  professional  reading  of  the  teachers  which 
was  motivated  by  an  immediate  need  for  help  in  the 
solution  of  some  definite  teaching  difficulty. 

(g)  The  circular  letters  of  the  supervisor  in  which 
the  exact  time  and  purpose  of  the  next  visit  to  each 
school  was  stated. 

(h)  Personal  conferences  with  the  individual 
teacher  (which  came  as  a  result  of  the  teacher's  seek- 


96  the:  value  of  school  sijpe:rvision 

ing)  in  which  were  discussed  the  problems  which  she 
brought  to  the  conference  for  solution. 

(i)  Visits  in  the  homes  of  the  people  through  which 
personal  friendships  were  formed  and  educational  aims 
were  clarified. 

( j )  Games  with  the  children  through  which  a  spirit 
of  understanding,  freedom  and  frankness  in  action  were 
developed. 

(k)  Brief  talks  to  the  children  while  visiting  the 
schools.  The  talks  -were  never  over  five  minutes  in 
length.  The  purpose  of  the  talks  was  to  instruct  and 
inspire  the  children  along  the  particular  line  of  school 
work  which  was  being  studied  during  that  month.  The 
talks  were  not  sermonettes,  nor  were  they  jokes,  they 
tried  to  be  business  talks  to  children,  so  brief  and  clear 
that  the  two  or  three  essential  points  emphasized  could 
be  understood  and  remembered. 

(1)  Public  meetings  with  definite  purposes.  These 
meetings  had  four  purposes :  ( i )  To  interest  and  in- 
spire the  rural  people  educationally,  (2)  to  provide  op- 
portunity for  larger  and  more  frequent  social  contact, 
(3)  to  give  instruction  in  matters  of  health  and  to 
strengthen  the  purpose  of  the  people  to  put  into  prac- 
tice what  they  already  knew,  (4)  to  disseminate 
knowledge  which  would  lead  to  economic  betterment. 

(m)  A  final  standardized  test  of  the  schools  which 
test  was  announced  at  the  time  the  initial  test  was 
given. 

That  the  writer  felt  each  of  these  agencies  import- 
ant is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  he  made  use  of  them. 
He  does  not  know  which  of  them  was  of  most  value  or 
that  all  of  them  were  of  value.    That  remains  for  some 


RESULTS  re:state:d  and  discussed  97 

future  experiments  to  determine.  It  may  even  be  true 
that  some  of  the  agencies  used  were  hurtful  in  effect. 
All  that  we  are  prepared  now  to  say  is  that  used  to- 
gether the  good  results  were  more  by  94.1  per  cent, 
than  were  the  evil  effects. 

Granting  this,  the  writer  may  be  privileged  to  state 
what,  in  his  opinion,  was  of  greatest  worth. 

Contrary  to  custom,  the  writer  feels  that  the  child 
is  the  most  important  agency  through  which  to  im- 
prove the  schools  by  supervision.  Ultimately,  all  su- 
pervision looks  to  the  improvement  of  the  child.  Why 
not,  therefore,  attack  the  problem  directly  instead  of 
circuitously  ?  If  the  child  can  come  to  feel  the  prob- 
lems as  his  own,  he  will  use  the  teacher  and  the  parent 
as  his  helpers.  They  cease  to  be  his  masters  and  be- 
come his  helpers. 

Taking  this  point  of  view  of  supervision,  therefore, 
the  major  interest  of  the  writer  throughout  the  year 
was  to  inform  the  child  of  his  true  situation,  to  get  him 
to  set  up  goals  for  future  attainment  for  him,  and  to 
aid  him  in  attaining  those  goals.  It  was  with  this  in 
view,  therefore,  that  the  details  of  the  initial  survey 
were  announced,  that  the  approaching  final  survey  was 
announced  at  the  same  time,  tliat  the  monthly  paper 
was  published,  that  the  professional  talks  were  made 
to  the  children,  that  the  children  were  made  such  an 
important  part  of  every  teachers'  meeting,  and  that 
such  emphasis  was  placed  upon  ''one  thing  at  a  time." 

The  teacher  is  the  second  most  important  agency 
through  whom  the  supervisor  must  work  for  improv- 
ing the  character  of  the  school  work.  Nothing  can 
supplant  in  importance  the  child's  own  interest  in  and 


98  the:  value;  of  school  supervision 

desire  for  improvement,  but  second  only  to  that  is  the 
teacher's  knowledge  of  how  to  render  him  assistance 
in  attaining  his  ambition.  In  order  that  the  teacher 
may  do  this  effectively,  she  must  understand  the  prin- 
ciples involved.  She  may  get  some  results  by  trial 
and  error  methods,  but  the  same  teacher  will  get  far 
better  results  if  she  clearly  sees  the  problem  to  be 
solved  and  has  some  clarified  theory  by  which  she  at- 
tacks it. 

In  order  that  the  teachers  might  see  the  problems 
involved  and  might  develop  a  clarified  theory  for  at- 
tacking them,  the  particular  type  of  teachers'  meet- 
ings, which  were  had  during  this  experiment,  was  used. 
It  was  for  this  purpose  that  the  supervisor  taught 
demonstration  lessons  at  each  meeting  as  a  means  of 
revealing  the  problems;  that  one  subject  was  taken  for 
concentrated  and  concerted  study  for  one  month  with 
a  second  meeting  devoted  to  summarizing  the  results 
of  the  study ;  that  the  teachers  taught  their  demonstra- 
tion lessons  at  the  second  meeting  and  that  the  pro- 
fessional reading  for  each  month  was  selected  with 
special  reference  to  the  problems  involved. 

The  size  of  the  teachers'  meetings  was  also  dictated 
by  this  purpose.  The  writer  feels  that  the  large  in- 
stitute which  consists  of  hundreds  of  teachers  is  al- 
most a  criminal  waste  of  money  and  opportunity.  Be- 
yond the  purposes  of  inspiration  and  beyond  one  day 
in  length,  they  are  probably  more  hurtful  than  other- 
wise. To  be  effective,  the  writer  feels  that  the  group 
must  be  small  enough  for  the  individual  participation 
of  every  teacher  in  every  meeting.  The  group  should 
also  be  so  homogeneous  in  character  and  by  the  nature 


RESULTS  RESTATED  AND  DISCUSSED  99 

of  the  problems  studied  that  what  is  of  interest  to  one 
will  be  profitable  to  all. 

In  order  to  arrive  at  a  judgment  of  the  most  desir- 
able size  of  the  group  for  the  teachers'  meetings,  the 
county  superintendent,  in  her  questionnaire  referred 
to  above,  asked  "How  many  teachers  should  be  in  a 
group  in  order  to  get  the  best  results  from  the  teach- 
ers' meeting?" 

The  replies  indicated  that  ten  should  be  the  minimum 
and  twenty  the  maximum.  There  should  be  just  enough 
to  provide  for  enthusiasm  of  numbers  and  yet  pre- 
serve the  freedom  which  a  small  group  gives. 

An  intelligent  understanding  of  the  problems  in- 
volved and  the  methods  by  which  they  can  best  assist 
in  their  solution  is  scarcely  less  important  for  the  par- 
ents than  for  the  teachers  of  the  children.  While  it 
should  be  the  ambition  of  the  child  which  drives  him 
ever  forward,  it  should  be  the  ambition  of  the  parents 
and  teachers  to  guide  him  when  he  is  lost  and  to 
strengthen  him  when  he  is  weak.  Those  children  who 
attend  school  regularly  are  the  children  of  parents 
who  have  a  never-flagging  ambition  for  their  children, 
who  watch  carefully  that  their  health  is  preserved  and 
that  they  have  the  right  sort  of  a  home  environment 
in  which  to  learn  and  to  grow. 

The  business  of  supervision,  then,  in  so  far  as  it  is 
related  to  the  home,  is  to  assist  every  home  in  becoming 
such  an  influence  in  the  life  of  the  children  in  that  home. 
With  this  object  in  mind,  the  zone  newspaper  was 
planned  for  home  consumption  as  well  as  for  the  school. 
The  educational  aims  and  goals  for  the  year  were  so 
expressed   that  every   child   and   every   parent   could 


loo  the:  value  of  school  supervision 

understand  them.  Through  the  child's  enthusiasm  the 
parents  came  to  aspire  for  the  same  results.  The  su- 
pervisor's visits  to  the  homes  and  the  public  meetings 
which  were  held  all  contributed  to  the  same  end — 
developing  in  the  parents  a  desire  to  have  their  chil- 
dren do  the  best  that  it  was  possible  for  them  to  do 
toward  the  realization  of  their  worthy  ambitions  in 
school. 

With  children,  teachers  and  parents,  all  conscious 
of  certain  worthy  aims,  aware  of  certain  limiting  in- 
fluences, and  convinced  of  the  possibility  of  certain 
definite  accomplishments  through  the  performance  of 
certain  recognized  tasks,  the  work  of  the  supervisor 
becomes  easy,  interesting  and  pleasant. 

2.  Granting  that  it  would  take  the  children  in  the 
control  group  94  per  cent,  of  a  year  longer  to  do  the 
same  amount  of  work  than  it  did  the  children  in  the 
experimental  group,  and  granting  that  the  results  that 
the  schools  are  working  for  are  results  that  are  socially 
desirable  then,  we  may  conclude  that  the  value  of 
the  service  of  one  supervisor  who  would  produce  such 
results  in  all  of  the  work  of  the  school  in  forty-five 
such  schoolrooms  would  be  $45,102.15  per  year. 

This  result  is  secured  by  multiplying  $1066.25,  the 
average  expense  per  annum  of  the  schoolrooms  in  the 
experimental  group  by  94.1%  and  multiplying  the  re- 
sult, $1002.27  by  45,  the  number  of  rooms  contemplated 
as  the  supervisory  load.  This  takes  into  consideration 
merely  the  value  of  the  service  to  the  school  itself 
when  measured  in  terms  of  pupil  progress  and  entirely 
ignores  any  social  or  economic  service  which  the  su- 


RESULTS  RESTATED  AND  DISCUSSED  lOI 

pervisor  may  have  rendered  to  the  corpmunity  or  the 
professional  service  rendered  to  the  teachers. 

It  is  wise  and  fair  to  say  that  the  results  secured  may 
have  been  somewhat  due  to  the  great  possibility  for 
improvement  and  also  to  the  novelty  of  the  work  done. 
It  is  not  certain  that  such  progress  could  be  shown 
year  after  year.  The  writer  believes,  however,  that 
such  progress  could  certainly  have  been  shown  during 
the  next  year.  The  results  of  giving  standardized 
tests  and  the  work  which  followed  in  the  Boston, 
Mass.,*  schools  seems  to  indicate  that  such  a  belief  on 
the  part  of  the  writer  is  well  founded. 

3.  The  teachers  under  professional  supervision  did 
approximately  four  times  as  much  professional  read- 
ing as  they  themselves  had  done  during  the  previous 
year,  or  as  the  unsupervised  group,  with  which  they 
were  compared,  did  during  the  year  of  the  experiment. 

This  great  increase  in  the  amount  of  professional 
reading  done  by  the  teachers  was  due  to  the  immediate 
purposes  to  be  served  by  the  reading,  as  has  already, 
been  pointed  out.  The  superiority  of  this  type  of  read- 
ing over  the  usual  Reading  Circle  work  may  be  more 
fully  appreciated  if  it  is  realized  that  a  half  dozen  or 
more  authorities  on  the  same  subject  would  be  studied 
by  diflFerent  members  of  the  group.  This  gave  an  op- 
portunity for  comparing  the  ideas  of  the  several  au- 
thorities. The  discussions  were  greatly  enriched  as  a 
result. 

4.  The  average  attendance,  measured  in  terms  of 
total  enrollment,  was  76  per  cent,  for  the  year  for  the 


*See  Boston  School  Decument  No.  15,  1916,  and  No.  5.  1918. 


I02  THE  VALUE  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 

supervised  schools  as  against  70.7  per  cent,  for  the 
unsupervised  schools. 

This  difference  is  due  to  two  facts,  in  the  writer's 
opinion.  The  school  enthusiasm  was  up  to  a  higher 
standard  in  the  supervised  than  in  the  unsupervised 
schools.  This  may  be  illustrated  by  a  incident  which 
occurred  in  the  Rudolf  School  on  Tuesday,  April  13th. 
The  supervisor's  circular  letter  had  been  sent  out  so 
that  all  of  the  schools  knew  when  he  would  visit  them. 
When  he  arrived  te  Rudolf  he  found  the  two  children 
in  that  school  who  were  in  the  experiment,  Westley 
Schnorr  and  Vera  Hye,  present  and  ready  to  show  the 
supervisor  what  they  could  do  in  the  subject  which 
was  receiving  special  study  for  the  month.  (These 
were  the  only  children  above  the  second  grade  in  this 
school.)  The  teacher  was  not  present  and  had  not  been 
in  school  during  that  week.  This  was  typical  of  the 
interest  of  all  of  the  children  who  were  in  the  experi- 
mental group. 

The  second  reason  which  accounts  for  the  higher 
percentage  of  attendance  is  the  fact  that  a  higher  per- 
centage of  the  children  enrolled  in  the  seventh  and 
eighth  grades  continued  in  school  throughout  the  year. 

5.  In  the  schools  under  supervision,  all  of  the  chil- 
dren in  the  grades  from  3  to  8,  inclusive,  made  excel- 
lent progress  with  the  greater  gains  usually  in  the 
lower  grades.  In  the  group  not  having  supervision, 
the  children  in  the  grades  below  the  seventh  did  not 
make  the  progress  which  might  have  been  expected  if 
the  progress  made  by  the  seventh  and  eighth  grades  in 
the  same  group  or  with  the  progress  made  by  the  lower 


RESULTS  RESTATED  AND  DISCUSSED  I03 

grades  of  the  experimental  group  were  taken  as  a 
criterion. 

The  reason  for  this  is  not  established.  The  writer 
believes  that  it  was  due  to  the  fact  that  in  the  unsuper- 
vised schools  the  state  eighth-grade  examination  was 
the  largest  influence  which  guided  the  teaching  effort 
in  the  schools.  The  children  in  those  grades,  who  re- 
mained in  school  throughout  the  year,  were  the  more 
intelligent  and  more  ambitious  ones.  While  the  pu- 
pils of  the  seventh  grade  are  not  urged  to  take  the 
eighth  grade  examinations,  many  of  them  usually  do 
in  such  schools.  The  children  in  the  seventh  and  eighth 
grades,  therefore,  did  have  a  goal  for  the  accomplish- 
ments of  the  year  which,  as  pointed  out  above,  was  the 
largest  factor  facilitating  effective  supervision.  Not 
only  that,  but  teachers  in  one-teacher  schools  are  more 
often  counted  successful  or  unsuccessful  by  their  pa- 
trons according  to  whether  or  not  those  children  pass 
who  take  the  State  examination.  Thus  it  may  be  seen 
that  the  teachers  also  had  a  motive  for  effective  work 
in  the  upper  grades.  Since  the  work  of  the  lower 
grades  was  not  so  motivated  or  judged,  it  may  be  seen 
why  the  children  in  "the  lower  grades  did  not  make  the 
progress  which  might  have  been  expected. 

6.  Supervision  served  to  keep  in  school  children 
who  were  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  grades.  Of  the 
children  who  entered  the  supervised  schools,  92  per 
cent,  continued  in  school  to  the  end  of  the  year.  In 
the  unsupervised  schools  only  69  per  cent,  continued  in 
school  throughout  the  year. 

This  result  is  due  to  two  things,  it  seems  to  the 
writer. 


I04  THE  VALUE  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 

(a)  Supervision  served  to  fix  the  attention  of  all 
of  the  children  upon  the  desirability  of  getting  an  edu- 
cation. Children  are  easily  inspired  and  they  like  to 
do  what  other  children  are  doing,  especially  if  the  other 
children  are  praised  for  their  worthy  accompHshments. 
If  staying  in  school  becomes  one  of  the  items  approved 
by  the  social  group  of  which  the  child  is  a  member,  he 
will  likely  continue  in  school.  Such  seems  to  have  been 
the  case  in  the  experimental  group. 

(b)  Through  supervision,  possibly  a  higher  type  of 
appreciation  on  the  part  of  the  parents  had  been  de- 
veloped for  the  education  of  the  children.  If  any  of 
the  children  were  disposed  to  quit  schools,  therefore, 
the  parents  gave  their  opposition  to  it  and  their  en- 
couragement to  finishing  the  year.  How  this  support 
of  the  parents  was  secured  has  been  discussed  already 
in  another  section. 

7.  Supervision  promoted  the  social  life  of  the  com- 
munity. This  was  done  through  the  various  types  of 
meetings  discussed  in  another  place. 

B.      SPECIAL  RELATED  CONCLUSIONS 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing  results  presented  and 
discussed,  there  are  two  important' related  conclusions 
which  should  be  discussed  in  this  connection. 

I.  While  supervision  gave  very  positive  results  in 
the  subjects  supervised,  it  did  not  get  those  results 
at  the  expense  of  other  school  subjects,  the  teaching 
of  which  was  unsupervised. 

This  conclusion  is  justified  by  the  showing  made  by 
children  in  the  experimental  and  control  groups  who 
took  the  State  eighth-grade  examinations  in  June,  1920. 
The  children  were  tested  in  nine  subjects:  reading, 


RKsuLTs  re;state:d  and  discusse;d  105 

writing,  spelling,  arithmetic,  grammar,  physiology, 
history,  civics  and  drawing.  The  average  grade  of 
each  group  for  each  subject  was  as  follows: 

Experimental  Control 

Reading 76.8    IZ- 

Writing   85.8    81.2 

Spelling  90.4 92.7 

Arithmetic 70.1    •  •" 69.4 

Grammar 78.1  75-8 

Physiology   76.2 70.7 

Civics 66 62. 

History    65.2    65.5 

Drawing   70-6    1Z- 

General  Average   75-6  73-9 

From  the  above  comparison  it  will  be  seen  that  of 
the  four  subjects  which  had  not  been  under  investiga- 
tion in  the  experiment :  history,  civics,  physiology,  and 
drawing, — the  experimental  group  ranks  higher  in 
physiology  and  civics  while  the  control  group  ranks 
higher  in  history  and  drawing.  It  should  be  noted 
also  that  the  average  superiority  of  the  experimental 
group  in  the  two  subjects  in  which  it  is  superior  is 
slightly  more  than  that  of  the  control  group  in  the  sub- 
jects in  which  it  is  superior.  The  general  average  of 
the  experimental  group  in  all  nine  subjects,  when 
taken  together,  is  also  nearly  two  per  cent,  higher 
than  the  control  group  av^erage.  When  it  is  realized 
that  the  point  of  view  and  the  method  of  the  work  of 
the  two  groups  had  been  very  different  throughout  the 
year,  these  results  seem  even  more  convincing.  The 
experimental  group  had  been  striving  to  improve  in 
certain  specified  functions,  the  control  group  had  been 
preparing  for  the  annual  eighth  grade  examinations.. 


io6  the:  value:  of  school  supervision 

It  is  probable  that  the  superiority  of  the  experimental 
group  in  the  subjects  of  civics  and  physiology  was  due 
to  the  Health  and  Happiness  Campaign  previously 
discussed. 

The  one  exception  to  the  general  tendency  of  su- 
periority of  the  experimental  group  as  revealed  by  the 
state  examinations  is  that  of  spelling.  This  exception 
may  be  easily  understood  when  it  is  recalled  (a)  that 
the  experimental  group  held  practically  all  who  entered 
the  school  in  the  autumn  while  the  control  group  lost 
many.  It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  it  was  the  less 
capable  of  the  control  group  who  quit  schools  and  there- 
fore who  did  not  take  the  state  examinations,  while  in , 
the  experimental  group  the  strong  and  the  weak  alike 
were  included,  (b)  The  experimental  group  had  de- 
voted two  months  of  the  year  to  work  in  spelling  which 
had  been  suggested  by  the  supervisor — the  first  month 
the  work  being  of  an  agricultural  nature  and  the  sec- 
ond being  devoted  to  the  Pryor  Minimal  Spelling  List. 
At  the  same  time  the  seventh  and  eighth  grades  of  the 
control  group  were  giving  attention  to  the  regular  work 
prescribed  for  those  grades  by  the  State  and  from 
which  the  words  for  the  State  examinations  were  taken. 

2.  In  order  to  get  the  best  results  from  supervision, 
attention  must  be  fixed  upon  the  elements  which  it  is 
desired  to  improve. 

By  reference  to  Table  XV  and  Table  XXII  it  will 
be  seen  that  in  the  quality  of  penmanship  alone  did 
the  total  average  progress  of  the  grades  of  the  con- 
trol group  exceed  that  of  the  experimental  group.  This 
may  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  at  no  time  did  the 
supervisor  devote  a  special  tour  to  the  subjject  of  pen- 


RESULTS  RESTATED  AND  DISCUSSED        I07 

manship.  He  did  test  the  children  in  the  subject  in 
the  autumn  and  tell  them  that  they  would  be  tested 
again  in  the  spring.  He  published  the  result  of  the  test 
and  the  children  saw  that  result.  But  this,  apparently, 
was  not  sufficient  to  fix  their  attention  upon  the  ele- 
ments involved.  Speed  seems  to  have  been  the  pre- 
potant  element  in  the  final  test.  The  speed  increased 
tremendously  while  the  quality  was  reduced.  This 
was  also  true  in  the  case  of  the  control  group,  but  not 
to  such  a  marked  degree. 

Penmanship  is  a  subject  in  which  two  elements  are 
involved :  There  is  a  "maximum  mean"  for  speed  and 
quality.  If  the  speed  goes  beyond  that  maximum, 
quality  reduces.  Speed  is  an  element  of  good  pen- 
manship, nevertheless.  If  we  were  to  rate  the  speed 
as  one  and  the  quality  as  two,  the  experimental  group 
would  be  slightly  superior  to  the  control  group  in  the 
whole  complex  called  penmanship.  The  point  worthy 
of  most  consideration  in  this  connection,  though,  is 
that  we  can  not  expect  children  to  form  correct  habits 
of  writing  simply  by  calling  their  attention  two  or 
three  times  during  the  year  to  the  elements  involved. 
Specific  attention  to  the  elements  involved  with  con- 
stant practice  is  necessary. 

C.      GENERAL  CONCLUSION 

The  foregoing  data  show  that  supervision  practically 
doubled  the  efficiency  of  the  schools  for  more  than 
half  of  the  school  subjects  and  that  in  doing  so,  it  did 
not  decrease  the  efficiency  in  the  other  half  of  the 
school  work.  The  teachers  did  approximately  four 
times  as  much  professional  reading  as  they  did  without 


I08  THE  VALUE  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 

supervision.  School  attendance  was  improved  and 
the  children  of  the  advanced  grades  remained  in  school 
longer.  The  character  of  the  work  throughout  the 
grades  and  the  social  and  economic  status  of  the  com- 
munity were  improved. 

The  obligations  for  the  American  school  system, 
which  these  results  imply,  are  clear.  For  supervisors 
not  to  be  supplied  is  unfair  to  the  taxpayers  who  pro- 
vide the  funds  with  which  schools  are  maintained.  It  is 
a  waste  of  the  time  and  intelligence  of  the  teachers  for 
them  not  to  have  the  inspiration  to  professional  growth 
which  supervision  gives.  The  greatest  of  all  losses 
accrues  to  the  children  who  might  be  advancing  twice 
as  rapidly  and  possibly  with  much  more  joy  if  the  right 
sort  of  supervision  were  provided. 

In  order  that  the  school  system  may  supply  these 
needs,  it  must  secure  supervisors  with  personality^ 
training  and  energy.  The  supervisors  must  use  a  plan 
which  will  secure  the  desired  results. 


Chapte:r  IX 

A    DISCUSSION    OF    THE    PRINCIPLES    IN- 
VOLVED  IN  THE   APPLICATION   OF 
THE  ZONE  PLAN 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  this  experiment  required 
only  one  week  in  four  of  the  supervisor's  time,  it  seems 
advisable  to  present  in  this,  the  concluding  chapter,  a 
fuller  discussion  of  principles  involved,  especially  as 
they  apply  to  a  full  time  supervisor.  The  subject  is 
discussed  under  four  heads:  (A)  The  sphere  of  the 
supervisor,  (B)  The  schedule  of  the  supervisor's 
work,  (C)  The  supervisor's  assistants,  (D)  The  su- 
pervisor's use  of  publicity. 

A.    the:  sphere  oe  the  supervisor 

No  one  idea  in  the  administration  of  rural  schools 
needs  to  be  clarified  more  than  that  relating  to  the 
sphere  of  the  supervisor.  A  study  of  the  situation  as  it 
now  exists  in  America  reported  to  the  N.  E.  A.  in  1920 
and  192 1  by  Miss  Fannie  W.  Dunn  reveals  that  there  is 
no  definite  and  common,  conception  in  the  minds  of 
the  county  superintendents  as  to  just  what  the  realm  of 
the  supervisor  is  and  how  it  differs  from  that  of  the 
administrator.  In  many  states,  the  supervisor  is  merely 
a  deputy  superintendent,  there  being  no  clear  line  of 
demarkation  between  the  two  offices. 

The  zone  plan  of  supervision  is  based  upon  the 
theory  that  the  two  offices  are  distinctly  separated.  For 
the  zone  plan  to  be  effectively  appHed,  the  writer  feels 
that  both  the  superintendent  and  the  supervisor  should 
see  the  distinction,  and  work  according  to  the  distinc- 

109 


110  the;  value  of  school  supervision 

tion  practically  all  of  the  time.  There  may  be  times 
when  the  supervisor  would  discharge  an  administrative 
function  and  there  might  be  times  when  the  superin- 
tendent would  perform  a  supervisory  function,  but 
each  should  be  conscious  when  he  is  working  in  the 
other  capacity. 

Administration  has  to  do  with  the  invention,  organi- 
zation and  repair  of  educational  machinery;  supervi- 
sion concerns  itself  with  the  operation  of  the  machine. 
Administration  must  assure  itself  that  the  machine 
will  work  when  it  is  intelligently  handled ;  supervision 
must  guarantee  the  intelligent  handling. 

In  his  capacity  of  inventor,  the  superintendent  will 
serve  at  times  for  a  short  space,  actually  or  mentally, 
in  the  capacity  of  every  operator  in  his  system.  This 
is  necessary  that  he  may  recognize  the  problems  and 
see  the  needs  which  demand  new  inventions. 

In  his  capacity  of  organizer,  he  must  be  the  wizard 
chess  player,  who,  blindfolded  and  with  his  back  to  his 
rival,  can  see  all  of  the  possible  combinations  out  of 
which  come  victory  or  defeat. 

In  his  capacity  as  the  man  of  repairs,  he  must  have 
a  sensitive  ear,  a  keen  eye,  and  a  deft  hand  in  order  to 
locate  quickly  and  correct  easily  the  mechanical  de- 
fects without  the  interruption  of  the  machine. 

The  supervisor  in  his  capacity  of  expert  operator 
must  so  manipulate  the  machine  that  it  will  improve 
with  use.  It  is  his  function  to  adjust  the  machine,  to 
care  for  it,  to  giye  it  a  soul.  He  gives  more  freedom 
where  it  is  too  tight;  he  restricts  it  in  those  parts 
where  there  is  too  much  play;  he  becomes  its  master 
and  it  does  his  bidding. 


PRINCIPLES  01^  ZONE  PLAN   APPLIED  III 

Administration  locates  the  children  for  whom  a 
school  must  be  supplied,  discovers  a  responsible  board 
of  education  to  stand  sponsor  for  them,  secures  a 
teacher  to  provide  the  instruction,  taxes  the  property 
to  pay  the  teacher's  salary,  requires  the  children  to 
attend  the  school.  Supervision  adjusts  the  daily  sched- 
ule, organizes  the  course  of  study  to  fit  the  local 
needs,  locates  the  right  child  in  the  proper  place  ac- 
cording to  age,  intelligence  and  training.  Supervision 
looks  after  the  child's  health,  concerns  itself  with  his 
behavior,  and  becomes  responsible  for  his  progress. 
Administration  requires  of  the  parents  support  of  the 
school  and  of  the  teacher  a  legal  service  from  9  a.  m. 
to  4  p.  m. ;  supervision  inspires  parents  to  such  loyalty 
to  the  school  that  they  will  never  permit  the  child  to 
be  absent  or  tardy  without  cause  and  inspires  the 
teacher  so  that  she  would  be  willing  to  devote  herself 
to  the  school  from  4  a.  in.  to  9  p.  m.,  and  Saturday 
would  be  thrown  in  for  good  measure.  Administration 
concerns  itself  with  rights,  duties,  requirements ;  super- 
vision is  concerned  chiefly  with  opportunities,  priv- 
ileges, options.  Legal  statutes  usually  define  the  in- 
side limits  af  administration ;  common  sense  and  edu- 
cational theory  are  almost  the  only  bounds  to  super- 
vision. 

The  zone  plan  of  supervision  contemplates  freedom 
for  the  supervisor  to  devote  his  entire  time  to  in- 
creasing the  joy  and  efficiency  of  the  school  work  as 
such.  The  supervisor  is  supposed  to  do  only  those 
things  which  have  as  their  aim  this  end.  Of  course, 
this  might  be  interpreted  to  include  anything  which  is 
related  to  the  school,  but  the  writer  does  not  accept 


112  THE  value;  of  school  supervision 

such  a  liberal  and  undefined  interpretation.  He  would 
not  include  anything  which  includes  administrative 
difficulties  that  do  not  bear  directly  upon  the  school 
activities  of  teacher  and  children.  Many  other  things 
he  will  do,  but  always  as  means  to  this  end,  not  as  ends 
in  themselves. 

B.      THE  SCHEDULE  OE  THE  SUPERVISOR'S  WORK 

One  of  the  chief  weaknesses  of  the  work  of  the  su- 
pervisor of  rural  schools  is  the  absence  of  a  schedule 
for  his  work.  He  too  often  allows  it  to  be  made  by 
time  and  circumstances.  There  are  three  distinct  phases 
of  the  supervisor's  schedule  which  he  should  plan  for 
with  definiteness :  (a)  To  what  interests  shall  he  give 
his  attention,  (b)  how  much  time  shall  he  devote  to 
the  field  work,  (c)  how  much  time  shall  be  devoted  to 
study  ? 

(a)  To  what  interests  shall  he  give  his  attention? 
The  interests  of  the  supervisor  must  be  of  two  sorts: 
general  and  special.  He  must  be  responsible  for  the 
general  operation  of  the  school.  The  daily  schedule 
must  be  such  that  proper  emphasis  will  be  given  to  all 
of  the  school  interests,  that  each  child  will  have  his 
share  of  attention  and  that  the  school  machinery  will 
work  with  the  greatest  ease.  He  must  be  conscious  of 
the  physical  situation  in  the  school.  Heating,  lighting, 
ventilation,  and  sanitation  must  be  kept  in  mind.  The 
general  upkeep  of  school  property  and  the  necessary 
changes  to  be  made  in  the  physical  situation  are  items 
of  his  proper  interest.  The  moral  atmosphere  of  the 
school  should  be  sensed  by  the  supervisor  and  given 
the  benefit  of  his  inspiration.     These  and  other  such 


PRINClPLi:S  01^  zone:  PI,AN   APPLIED  II3 

matters  are  of  but  general  interest  to  the  supervisor. 
They  bear  a  close  relation  to  the  special  things  for 
which  he  is  responsible.  He  can  not  do  the  work 
which  he  is  supposed  to  do  unless  they  function  prop- 
erly. Some  of  them  he  himself  must  adjust,  others  he 
must  report  to  the  administrative  forces  of  the  school, 
the  superintendent  or  the  school  board  who  will  have 
to  make  the  correction.  They  are  beyond  the  limit  of 
means  and  time  at  the  supervisor's  disposal. 

The  special  interest  of  the  supervisor  is  the  im- 
provement of  certain  phases  of  the  school  work.  To- 
ward these  phases  the  supervisor  should  take  the  atti- 
tude of  a  constructive  creator  rather  than  that  of  mere 
trouble  fixer.  There  may  be  times  and  there  may  be 
schools  in  which  matters  of  general  interest  must  be- 
come the  problems  for  specific  attention.  This  should 
be  the  exception,  though.  The  matters  of  general  in- 
terest can  usually  be  controlled  through  the  wjse  direc- 
tion of  specific  interests.  What  phases  of  the  school 
work  the  supervisor  shall  elect  for  his  special  attention 
must  be  determined  by  the  special  need  of  his  schools. 
He  can  possibly  with  the  greatest  profit  to  the  schools 
emphasize  about  four  dififerent  school  interests  or 
school  subjects  during  each  year.  (This  is  a  matter 
which  should  be  experimentally  investigated.)  If  he 
•devoted  himself  to  four  special  interests  last  year  and 
if  his  teaching  corps  is  practically  the  same  this  year, 
he  can  with  profit  take  up  four  new  interests  for  this 
year's  work.  While  the  four  selected  interests  will  not 
b€  the  four  most  needed  by  every  teacher,  the  general 
welfare  and  progress  of  the  schools  will  probably  be 
more  advanced  by  such  a  selection  and  such  concentra- 


,114  'I'HE  VALUE  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 

tion  than  would  be  the  case  if  the  supervisor  permitted 
the  special  needs  of  every  teacher  to  determine  his 
schedule  rather  than  the  greatest  need  of  the  schools 
as  a  whole.  Special  needs  of  teachers  must  be  given 
attention  but  they  should  be  considered  as  general  in- 
terests to  be  attended  to  in  an  incidental  way  rather 
than  special  interests  to  occupy  the  center  of  the  super- 
visor's attention. 

(b)  How  much  time  shall  he  devote  to  the  Held? 
Many  supervisors  and  superintendents  devote  certain 
days  of  each  week  to  the  field  work  and  certain  days 
to  the  office.  The  writer  feels  that  for  the  administra- 
tor this  may  be  a  wise  policy  but  for  the  superivor  it 
would  be  a  better  plan  if  he  devoted  certain  weeks  to 
the  field  and  certain  weeks  to  the  office. 

In  practically  all  counties,  teachers'  meetings  must, 
for  various  reasons,  be  held  on  Saturday.  If  teachers' 
meetings  are  held  on  that  day  the  supervisor  must  be 
present.  Each  day  of  the  week  he  should  spend  visit- 
ing the  schools.  One  day  out  of  each  week  is  too  lim- 
ited an  amount  of  time  for  him  to  accomplish  what  he 
needs  to  do  in  the  oflice  if  the  days  come  disconnect- 
edly. The  writer  feels,  therefore,  that  the  supervisor 
should  divide  his  time  for  work  into  sections — afield 
work  and  home  work.  The  field  work  should  occupy 
about  three-fourths  of  his  time  and  the  home  work  one 
fourth. 

As  indicated  in  a  previous  section,  the  supervisor 
should  divide  his  supervisory  territory  into  three  zones, 
one  zone  for  each  week  of  field  work  out  of  each  month. 
There  should  be  an  average  of  about  fifteen  teachers  to 


PRINCIPLES  OP   ZONE  P1.AN   APPLIED  115 

each  zone.     If  the  supervisor  had  more  than  forty-five 
teachers,  more  zones  would  be  necessary. 

The  zones  should  be  organized  according  to  topo- 
graphical, social  and  educational  conditions.  Galpin, 
in  his  book.  Rural  Life,  defines  the  community  as  that 
measure  of  territory  where  people  naturally  cooperate 
to  a  given  end.  The  roads,  the  social  habits  of  the 
people  and  the  character  of  schools  in  a  given  terri- 
tory will  determine  what  shall  be  the  territory  included 
in  each  zone.  Let  us  suppose  that  there  were  four 
small  towns  in  the  limits  of  the  supervisor's  territory, 
each  of  which  had  a  teacher  for  each  two  grades  of  the 
elementary  school.  It  would  be  better  to  have  the 
teachers  of  these  four  schools  meet  together  in  one 
group,  and  that  these  four  schools  should  constitute 
one  zone.  Homogeniety  of  interests  would  indicate 
such  an  organization.  If  there  were  twenty  one-teacher 
schools  within  a  radius  of  seven  miles  of  a  center  to 
which  the  people  usually  came  for  social,  religious  and 
business  reasons,  such  a  group  of  teachers  should  form 
the  membership  of  a  zone.  If  another  community  were 
so  situated  that  only  ten  or  twelve  teachers  could  con- 
veniently reach  a  given  point  with  a  reasonable  amount 
of  effort,  the  twelve  should  constitute  the  membership 
of  another  zone.  The  number  of  teachers  in  one  group 
should  never  be  more  than  twenty  nor  less  than  eight 
for  efifective  work  on  the  part  of  both  the  supervisor 
and  for  the  members  of  the  group.  The  writer  feels 
that  from  twelve  to  sixteen  teachers  is  the  ideal  work- 
ing unit  for  supervisory  purposes,  and  that  from  thirty 
to  fifty  teachers  constitute  the  supervisory  load  when 
the  work  is  done  by  the  zone  plan. 


ii6  the;  value:  of  school  supervision 

When  the  supervisor  is  planning-  his  schedule  of 
visists  he  must  give  very  careful  attention  to  the  mat- 
ter of  travel.  In  this  day  of  automobiles  and  good 
roads,  wonders  can  sometimes  be  accomplished  in  a 
short  time,  but  the  supervisor  must  not  plan  upon  the 
ideal  situation,  but  the  worst  situation  that  he  has  to 
confront.  He  must  know  where  the  mudholes,  the 
gumbo,  the  sand,  and  the  hills  are  located.  He  must 
take  into  consideration  snow  drifts.  He  must  be  fami- 
liar with  freezes  and  thaws.  He  must  foresee  where 
he  will  spend  the  nights.  He  cannot  make  a  time 
schedule  without  knowing  all  of  these  conditions  and 
tie  should  not  make  a  time  schedule  without  keeping  it. 

During  the  season  of  good  roads  and  settled  weather, 
he  may  plan  upon  returning  to  his  home  in  the  eve- 
nings if  he  uses  a  car.  During  the  season  of  unsettled 
weather  and  bad  roads,  he  should  plan  to  spend  the 
nights  just  as  near  as  possible  to  the  school  which  he 
will  visit  first  on  the  next  day.  The  automobile  should  be 
abandoned  when  travel  by  means  of  it  is  rendered  un- 
certain. The  supervisor  may  ride  on  horseback  or 
walk  during  this  season.  He  should  keep  his  schedule 
at  all  hazards.  From  Monday  morning  to  Saturday 
night  should  be  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  schools 
of  the  zone. 

In  some  places  the  supervisor  may  find  it  more  con- 
venient and  wiser  to  have  a  regular  place  at  which  he 
spends  the  nights  while  on  his  trips.  It  might  be  more 
pleasant  for  him  personally  to  do  this,  but  for  the  good 
of  the  schools  the  writer  questions  the  wisdom  of  such 
a  practice.    The  contact  with  the  people  is  invaluable 


PRINCIPLES  OE  ZONE  PLAN  APPUED  II7 

as  a  means  of  school  betterment.  It  may  sometimes  be 
difficult  for  the  supervisor,  but  if  his  constitution  will 
bear  it,  the  effort  will  be  well  rewarded. 

The  supervisor  should  not  plan  to  visit  more  than 
one  school  on  Monday  morning.  There  are  nearly  al- 
ways some  matters  which  demand  the  supervisor's  at- 
tention on  Monday  morning  before  he  can  get  started 
on  his  trip.  Provision  should,  therefore,  be  made  in 
the  supervisor's  schedule  for  these  unforeseen  matters. 

The  supervisor  should  so  arrange  his  itinerary  that 
he  begins  his  observations  at  a  point  nearest  his  start- 
ing point  on  Monday  morning  and  ends  it  on  Friday 
evening  at  another  point  near  the  "home  plate."  He 
should  not  always  make  his  visits  in  the  same  order. 
If  they  are  reversed  each  second  visit,  better  results 
will  probably  be  secured. 

The  teachers'  meeting  of  each  zone  should  come  on 
the  Saturday  of  the  week  in  which  the  visits  of  the 
supervisor  are  made.  The  details  of  his  observations 
are  then  fresh  in  his  mind  and  the  minds  of  his  teachers. 
The  "irons  are  hot"  and  the  welding  should  be  done 
then. 

(c)  Hozv  much  time  shall  he  devote  to  study?  The 
field  service  is  but  one  phase  of  the  supervisor's  work. 
It  is  profitless  unless  the  supervisor  is  fully  prepared 
to  make  it  fruitful.  This  he  cannot  do  without  time  in 
which  to  store  up  energy — physical  and  intellectual. 
He  must  have  time  for  organizing  his  own  thinking. 
He  must  have  ideas  with  which  to  think.  He  must 
know  what  others  have  thought  upon  the  problem  which 
he  is  attacking. 


Il8  THE  VALUK  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 

Three  weeks  filled  with  observation  of  classroom 
work,  home  visiting,  and  group  teachers'  meetings  will 
call  for  a  period  of  more  quiet  in  which  to  collect  his 
thoughts,  relax  his  mind  and  muscles,  and  get  a  proper 
perspective  with  which  to  enter  upon  the  work  of  the 
next  three  weeks.  One  week  is  little  enough  time  in 
which  to  do  this. 

The  one  week  out  of  four  which  the  supervisor  plans 
for  his  own  readjustments  should  not  be  infringed  upon 
by  other  distinctly  private  interests.  That  week  be- 
longs to  the  schools  and  he  should  use  it  for  the  good 
of  the  schools.  This  does  not  mean  that  he  is  to  be  an 
office  assistant  for  the  superintendent  at  that  time. 
That  week  of  free  time  should  be  devoted  to  reading, 
organizing  his  material,  editing  his  district  news- 
paper, checking  up  the  odds  and  ends  of  the  work  of 
his  district.  If  he  would  devote  four  days  to  the  read- 
ing phases  of  his  work  and  two  days  to  the  clerical 
phases,  the  writer  feels  that  the  best  results  would 
probably  be  secured  from  the  week.  The  reading  of 
one  absolutely  new  book  which  bears  upon  the  subject 
in  hand  is  the  minimum  requirement  which  the  super- 
visor should  set  for  himself  for  each  month.  This 
should  be  supplemented  by  a  comparison  with  the 
other  old  books  with  which  he  is  already  familiar. 
There  will  be  but  slight  opportunity  for  reading  while 
the  supervisor  is  on  his  field  trips.  If,  though,  there  is 
some  one  book  which  bears  very  directly  upon  the  sub- 
ject in  mind,  the  supervisor  might  take  it  along  with 
him  so  that  he  might  refer  to  it  from  time  to  time  for 
verification  or  disproof  of  a  point.  Such  reflection  upon 
the  work  of  another  would  do  much  to  clarify  the  su- 


PRINCIPLES  OF  zone;  plan  applied  119 

pervisor's  own  thinking.  Possible  and  important  as 
this  type  of  reading  is,  it  must  be  realized  that  the  ad- 
vance study  of  the  supervisor  must  be  done  in  the  quiet 
of  his  own  library.  Time  must  be  provided  for  this  if 
the  supervisor  is  to  get  most  joy  and  profit  from  his 
work  and  if  the  school  system  is  to  reap  the  greatest 
returns  from  the  money  which  it  has  invested  in  his 
salary. 

c.    THE  supervisor's  assistants 

One  of  the  first  truths  which  the  supervisor  should 
get  fixed  clearly  in  his  mind  is  that  there  are  many 
other  people  who  can  do  many  things  better  than  he 
can  do  them.  The  task  to  which  he  should  apply  him- 
self most  faithfully  is  to  locate  those  people  and  inspire 
them  to  give  the  schools  the  benefit  of  their  excellent 
work.  These  people  who  can  be  of  service  to  the  su- 
pervisor in  his  efforts  to  serve  the  schools  fall  into  one 
of  three  classes:  (a)  Clerical  helpers,  (b)  School 
helpers,   (c)   Allied  hdpers. 

(a)  Clerical  helpers.  Clerical  service  may  be  had 
practically  anywhere  for  half  what  expert  supervisory 
service  should  cost.  It  would  be  a  blind  business  policy 
of  the  school  system  to  use  two  hundred  dollar  service 
for  one  hundred  dollar  work.  The  time  of  the  super- 
visor should  not  be  taken  for  the  actual  writing  of 
routine  letters  and  doing  the  office  chores  which  less 
skilled  labor  can  do  satisfactorily.  The  supervisor 
should  dictate  his  circular  letters,  notices,  etc.,  and  they 
should  be  written  and  mailed  by  the  office  clerical 
force.    Even  when  this  is  done,  there  will  remain  much 


I20  THE  VALUE  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 

of  a  personal  nature  which  has  professional  bearing 
which  the  supervisor  himself  will  have  to  do. 

(b)  School  helpers.  The  zone  plan  of  supervision 
lends  itself  to  the  capitalization  of  the  talent  of  the 
teachers.  The  groups  are  small  enough  to  make  indi- 
vidual work  of  the  teachers  possible.  The  plan  leads 
to  a  discovery  of  the  gifts  of  teachers  in  the  school- 
room and  to  the  development  of  their  powers  for  pub- 
lic performance.  One  of  the  first  opportunities  for  the 
assistance  of  the  teachers  was  illustrated  in  a  previous 
chapter  where  it  was  stated  that  the  teachers  graded 
some  of  the  test  papers  in  reading  as  a  means  of  re- 
vealing the  problem  to  be  attacked  in  silent  reading. 
This  plan  might  be  applied  with  great  profit  by  a  regu- 
lar supervisor. 

In  regular  supervision  where  the  information  of  the 
teachers  and  the  improvement  of  the  school  work  are 
the  major  purpose  and  where  the  reliability  of  the  re- 
sults are  not  so  very  important,  the  standard  tests 
might  be  given  and  the  papers  scored  each  time  by  the 
teachers  of  the  zone.  If  the  maximum  results  for  the 
schools  were  desired,  the  supervisor  might  give  the 
test  in  each  subject  at  the  last  visit  to  the  school  just 
prior  to  the  time  that  it  would  be  taken  up  for  study  in 
the  zone  meeting.  He  could  bring  the  test  papers  to 
the  meeting  and  the  first  period  of  the  meeting  might 
be  devoted  to  grading  the  papers.  In  this  way  the 
weaknesses  of  the  schools  would  be  revealed  to  the 
teachers.  Each  teacher  could  get  a  definite  idea  of 
how  the  work  in  her  own  school  ranked  when  com- 
pared to  that  in  other  schools.  The  whole  problem  of 
how  to  correct  the  revealed  weaknesses  would  then  be 


PRINCIPLES  OF  ZONE  PLAN   APPLIED  121 

an  interesting  one.  What  the  supervisor  had  to  offer 
would  then  fall  upon  minds  prepared  for  its  reception. 
The  supervisor  could  use  the  results  from  the  three 
zones  in  his  district  for  comparative  purposes  With 
great  profit  to  the  schools.  Scientific  methods  and 
knowledge  would  thus  become  the  common  and  ap- 
plied property  of  every  teacher  in  the  group. 

Teachers  working  together  in  such  a  group  would 
give  to  each  other  much  that  the  supervisor  himself 
would  have  to  give  if  working  under  some  other 
scheme  of  organization.  The  demonstration  teaching 
of  one  teacher  might  serve  as  the  very  best  agency  of 
supervision  that  could  be  used.  A  discussion  of  a 
demonstration  might  clarify  a  pedagogical  difficulty 
for  a  teacher  in  a  way  that  a  personal  conference, 
without  an  objective  illustration  of  the  point  under  dis- 
cussion, could  never  do.  The  teachers  themselves  can 
be  the  greatest  means  of  improvement  to  the  members 
of  their  group  if  they  are  wisely  led  and  the  contri- 
bution which  each  has  to  make  is  presented.  It  is  the 
function  of  the  supervisor  to  discover  what  contribu- 
tions are  most  needed  by  the  members  of  the  group, 
who  can  best  make  those  contributions,  and  then  get 
the  contributions  made  in  the  best  possible  manner  and 
at  the  time  that  they  will  do  most  good. 

(c)  Allied  helpers.  The  supervisor  of  rural 
schools  should  realize  that  the  school  business  is  not  a 
narrow  business.  It  properly  connects  with  the  rest 
of  the  world  with  a  multitude  of  threads.  It  is  for  the 
supervisor  to  select  the  threads  which  are  to  be  fol- 
lowed and  to  guide  the  quest.  To  this  end  he  should 
consider  everything  and  everybody  as  his  natural  al- 


122  THE  VALUE  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 

lies  in  the  education  of  the  girls  and  boys  under  his 
tutelage.  If  he  will  keep  his  eyes  open  and  his  mind 
awake  he  will  see  many  interests  to  which  to  intro- 
duce his  children  and  will  find  many  people  who  will 
be  glad  to  render  them  service  through  his  suggestion 
and  guidance. 

When  properly  approached,  public-spirited  citizens 
may  always  be  relied  upon  to  render  service  to  the 
rural  communities.  Almost  any  minister,  doctor,  law- 
yer, banker  or  county  official  will  be  ready  to  join  in  a 
campaign  which  has  for  its  purpose  the  public  welfare. 
Prominent  women  of  every  community  are  delighted 
to  answer  the  call  for  service.  Singers,  readers,  lec- 
turers on  special  topics  will  gladly  render  free  for  a 
rural  audience  what  they  would  charge  liberally  for 
under  usual  circumstances.  The  supervisor  should 
make  the  most  of  such  a  spirit  of  service.  He  will 
liberalize  the  soul  of  the  giver  and  will  liberalize  the 
ideas  of  those  whom  he  serves  by  such  an  act  of  com- 
mandeering. The  fact  is,  human  nature  enjoys  being 
commandeered.  Everyone  likes  to  feel  that  his  par- 
ticular gifts  are  absolutely  necessary  to  the  cause. 
The  supervisor  should  be  expert  in  convincing  many 
people  of  the  necessity  for  them  to  render  their  service 
in  the  cause  which  he  is  serving — better  educated 
country  boys  and  girls. 

The  people  referred  to  above  constitute  the  talent 
for  special  occasions.  There  will  be  times  when  they 
are  necessary.  The  probability  is,  though,  that  there 
will  be  a  much  larger  proportion  of  time  when  servants 
of  the  workaday  sort  can  be  used.  These  everyday 
servants  are  those  who  are  regularly  employed  by  the 


PRINCIPLES  OF  zone;  plan  applied  123 

county  to  render  public  service,  such  as  the  county 
agent,  the  home  demonstration  agent,  the  nurse,  and 
other  public  officials.  These  officials  will  usually  be 
glad  to  avail  themselves  of  the  opportunities  provided 
by  the  supervisor  to  present  to  the  people  the  cause 
which  they  represent. 

The  supervisor  may  also  be  able  to  serve  his  district 
by  securing  for  special  service  representatives  from  the 
state  department  of  education,  the  agricultural  college, 
the  university,  and  normal  schools. 

One  fact  the  supervisor  should  always  keep  clearly 
in  mind  in  connection  with  the  service  of  all  allied  help- 
ers is  that  they  have  come  to  help  him  do  the  work 
which  he  is  trying  to  do  and  not  that  he  is.  serving  as 
their  assistant  to  do  their  work. 

D.      THE  supervisor's  USE  OF  PUBLICITY 

Publicity  is  an  agency  for  service  very  much  over- 
looked and  underrated  by  the  schools.  Either  a  false 
modesty  on  the  part  of  school  people  or  the  lack  of  the 
knack  of  advertising  has  in  the  past  prevented  the 
school  achivements  and  school  needs  from  reaching 
the  public.  The  art  of  publicity  is  one  to  which  the 
supervisor  should  give  his  earnest  attention.  He 
should  concern  himself  not  with  getting  a  news  story 
in  the  metropolitan  daily  about  some  strange  or  spec- 
tacular incident  in  connection  with  his  work  or  with 
the  marvels  which  he  is  performing  as  a  supervisor. 
Such  news  items  reach  an  audience  with  which  he  has 
no  legitimate  concern.  The  people  in  whom  he  is  in- 
terested are  his*  own  people  in  his  own  supervisory  dis- 
trict.    The  news  which  he  wants  them  to  receive  is 


124  THE  VALUE  OE  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 

the  news  about  their  schools.  The  news  should  be  pre- 
sented in  a  form  which  they  will  understand  and  ap- 
preciate. The  more  personal  and  intimate  it  is,  the 
more  they  will  probably  profit  from  it.  .  To  this  end  he 
should  use  three  agencies:  (a)  A  school  paper  for  the 
supervisory  district,  (b)  The  local  weeklies  or  dailies, 
(c)  Feature  stories  in  agricultural  magazines  which 
have  a  large  local  circulation. 

(a)  A  school  newspaper  for  the  supervisory  district. 
By  far  the  most  important  of  all  agencies  of  publicity 
for  the  betterment  of  the  rural  schools  is  a  little  paper 
which  the  supervisor  himself  edits  for  his  own  children. 
This  may  be  a  mimeographed  leaflet  published  monthly. 
It  should  be  brief,  terse  and  interesting  to  the  children. 
It  should  discuss  what  is  being  done  and  what  is  to  be 
done  in  the  schools.  It  is  usually  wise  to  emphasize 
one  cause  at  a  time.  The  material  should  be  varied 
from  month  to  month  in  such  a  way  as  to  keep  the 
children  looking  forward  with  eagerness  to  the  next 
issue.  The  interests  of  parents  and  teachers  should 
not  be  entirely  overlooked,  but  the  interests  of  the  chil- 
dren should  receive  major  consideration. 

If  a  supervisor  has  three  zones  in  his  district,  his 
paper  should  be  somewhat  different  for  the  different 
zones.  There  could  be  one  part  which  might  be 
common  to  all  zones — that  which  dealt  with  matters  of 
news  of  a  local  nature  might  be  printed  in  zone  sup- 
plements for  each  zone. 

The  papers  should  be  issued  by  the  county  clerical 
force  and  sent  in  packages  to  the  teachers.  Enough 
should  be  sent  to  each  teacher  for  one  copy  to  be 
given  to  each  family  represented  in  the  schcol.     Bet- 


PRINCIPLES  OF  ZONE  PLAN   APPLIED  I25 

ter  results  will  probably  be  derived  from  the  papers  if 
they  are  distributed  in  each  zone  just  immediately  prior 
to  the  visits  of  the  supervisor  to  that  zone. 

(b)  The  local  newspapers.  Practically  every  family 
in  the  rural  district  which  the  supervisor  serves  will  be 
a  subscriber  to  the  local  paper.  If  this  is  not  true,  the 
supervisor  will  be  serving  public  education  if  he  will 
stimulate  all  to  become  subscribers.  The  rural  people 
and  their  work  do  not  receive  their  just  share  of  re- 
cognition from  the  local  press  in  all  communities.  This 
is  not  always  the  fault  of  the  papers.  The  press  is 
usually  glad  to  get  the  news.  The  supervisor  should 
aid  the  newspapers  in  securing  reliable  and  efficient  re- 
porters in  the  various  communities  who  will  report  the 
school  news.  If  the  supervisor  has  a  "nose  for  news" 
he  will  be  able  to  suggest  many  items  of  interest  to 
these  local  reporters.  The  people  will  delight  to  see 
the  school  news  from  their  own  community  appearing 
in  the  papers  along  with  that  of  other  communities  of 
the  county. 

(c)  feature  stories  in  agricultural  magazines.  All 
of  the  people  should  be  subscribers  to  a  good  farm 
paper  or  magazine.  An  occasional  story  in  the  farm 
paper  telling  of  the  achievements  of  some  particular 
community  will  stimulate  the  people  to  read  the  papers 
more  carefully  and  more  generally  and  will  also  in- 
spire not  only  that  community  to  even  greater  efforts 
but  also  others  to  copy  its  good  works.  Such  maga- 
zines are  usually  glad  to  get  such  articles  with  illustra- 
tions of  the  work  described.  Often  the  papers  are 
willing  to  send  a  staff  representative  to  report  the  story 
for  them.     Certainly  an  alert  supervisor  should  not 


126  THE  VALUE  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 

overlook  this  agency  for  inspiring  one  of  his  communi- 
ties with  pride  and  at  the  same  time  inspiring  many 
others  to  greater  endeavor. 

CONCLUSIONS 

These  are  but  a  few  of  the  many  possible  agencies 
through  which  the  supervisor  of  rural  schools  may  serve 
his  people.  The  writer  does  not  claim  that  the  zone 
plan  is  without  limitations  or  that  some  other  plan  may 
not  accomplish  even  as  good  results  if  as  conscientiously 
applied.  The  only  claim  that  he  does  make  is  that  it 
has  been  tried  and  does  produce  results  that  are 
worthwhile. 


BIBILOGRAPHY 
No  attempt  is  made  to  present  a  complete  bibli- 
og.raphy  of  the  literature  relating  to  reading,  hand- 
writing, spelling,  composition  and  arithmetic.  Only 
those  studies  which  bear  direct  relation  to  the  particu- 
lar phases  under  investigatio  nare  presented  here. 

I.      TESTING  THE  VALUE  OF  SUPERVISION 

Courtis,  S.  A.  Measuring  the  Effect  of  Supervision. 
Geography  and   Society,  •  July    19,    1919. 

Reichert,  C.  Lorena.  Supervision  of  Reading.  Paper 
read  before  Educational  Measurement  Section,  Wis- 
consin  State  Teachers'  Association,   November,   1919. 

II.      READING 

Brooks,  Samuel  S.  Conditions  Revealed  by  the  Use  of 
Standardised  Tests  in  Rural  Schools.  Journal  of 
Educational  Research,  January,   1921. 

Gill,  Edmund  J.  Methods  of  Teaching  Reading.  Journal 
Experimental  Pedagogy,  Vol.  I.,  March,  1912. 

Gray,  C.  T.  Types  of  Reading  Ability  as  Exhibited 
Through  Testis  and  Laboratory  Experiments.  Sup- 
plementary Educational  Monograph,  Vol.  I.,  No.  5, 
University  of  Chicago. 

Grav.  W.  S.  The  Relation  of  Silent  Reading  to  Economy 
in  Education.  Sixteenth  Year  Book.  National  So- 
ciety for  the  Education.     Part  I. 

Studies  of  Elementary  School  Reading  Through 
Standardised  Tests.  Supplementary  Educational 
Monograph,  Vol.  I.,  No.  i,  Univ.  of  Chicago. 
Principles  of  Method  in  Teaching  Reading  as  De- 
rived from  Scientific  Investigation.  Eighteenth  Year 
Book,  Part  II.  National  Society  for  Study  of  Educa- 
tion. 

Hamilton,  F.  M.  The  Perceptual  Factors  in  Reading. 
Archives  of  Psychology,  No.  9,  1907. 

Kirchner,  H.  W.  Report  of  Reading  iti  Dodgville  {Wis- 
consin) Public  Schools.  Starch's  Educational  Psy- 
chology. 

King,  1.  Comparison  of  Rapid  and  Slow  Readers  in 
Comprehension.     School  and  Society,  4:  320-324. 

Peters,  C.  C.  Influence  of  Speed  Drills  on  Silent  Reading. 
Journal  of  Educational  Psychology,  Vol.  8,  Page 
350-366. 

Boston  Public  Schools — School  Document,  No.  18,  1916. 

National  Society  for  the  Study  of  Education.  The  Twen- 
tieth Year  Book,  Part  II  (entire). 

127 


128  THE  VALUE  OF  SCHOOL  SUPERVISION 

Thorndike,  E.  L.  Reading  as  Reasoning— A  Study  of  Mis- 
takes in  Paragraph  Reading.  Journal  of  Educational 
Psychology,  Vol.  8,  June,  1917. 

Waldman,  Bessie.  Definite  Improvement  in  Reading 
Ability  in  a  Fourth  Grade  Class.  Elementary  School 
Journal,    December,    1920. 

Waldo,  K.  D.  Tests  in  Reading  in  the  Sycamore  Schools. 
Elementary  School  Journal.     Vol.   15,  251-268. 

III.      LANGUAGE 

Charters,  W.  W.  and  Miller,  Edith.     A  Course  of  Study 

in  Grammar.    Educational  Bulletin  No.  9,  University 

of  Missouri. 
Fillers,   H.   D.     Oral  and    Written   Errors  in   Grammar. 

Educational  Review,  Vol.  54,  458-470. 
Sears,  Isabel  and  Diebel,  Amelia.    A  Study  of  Common 

Mistakes  in  Pupils'  Oral  English.    Elementary  School 

Journal,  Vol.  17,  44-54- 

IV,      SPELLING 

Fulton,  M.  J.  An  Experiment  in  Teaching  Spelling. 
Pedagogical  Seminary,  Vol.  21,  287-289. 

Horn,  Ernest.  Principles  of  Method  in  Teaching  Spelling 
as  Derived  from  Scientific  Investigations.  Eighteenth 
Year  Book,  Part  II,  National  Society  for  Study  of 
Education. 

Kirby,  J.  T.  Practice  in  the  Case  of  School  Children. 
Contributions  to  Education,  No.  58,  Teachers  College. 

Pryor,  H.  C,  Testing  the  Value  of  Concentrating  the  At- 
tention of  Children  Upon  the  Order  of  the  Letters  in 
a  Word.  A  Guide  to  the  Teaching  of  Spelling,  Chap. 
I.     Macmillan  Book  Co. 

Wagner,  C.  A.  Grouping  by  Similarity  cks  a  Factor  in  the 
Reaching  of  Spelling.    Univ.  of  Pennsylvania. 

Wallin,  J.  E.  W,  Spelling  Efficiency  in  Relation  to  Age 
Grade  and  Sex,  and  the  Transfer  of  Training. 

V.      PENMANSHIP 

Freeman,  F.  N.  Practical  Studies  in  Handwriting.  Ele- 
mentary School  Teacher,  Vol.  14.     167-179. 

Principles  of  Method  in  Teaching  Writing  as  Derived 
from  Scientific  Investigation.  Eighteenth  Year  Book, 
Part  II.  National  Society  for  the  Study  of  Educa- 
tion. 

Judd,  C.  H.     Penmanship  in  the  Cleveland  Survey. 

Starch,  D.  The  Measurement  of  Efficiency  in  Handwrit- 
ing. Journal  of  Educational  Psychology.  Vol.  6. 
10(6-114. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  1 29 

VI.      ARITHMETIC 

Ballou,  F.  W.  Improving  Instruction  Through  Education- 
al Measurement.  Educational  Administration  and 
Supervision,  Vol.  2,  June,  1916. 

Brown,  J.  C.  An  Investigation  on  the  Value  of  Drill 
Work  in  the  Fundamental  Operations  in  Arithmetic. 
Journal  of  Educational  Psychology,  Vol.  2,  81-88. 
Vol.  ^,  561-570. 

Bulletin  No.  7.  School  Document  No.  3,  1916,  Boston 
Public  Schools. 

Conrad,  H,  E.  and  Arp,  G.  F,  An  Experimental  Stfudy  in 
Economic  Learning.  Journal  of  Educational  Psy- 
chology.    Vol.  2,  507-529. 

Drusal,  J.  A.  A  Study  of  the  Amount  of  Arithmetic  in 
the  Command  of  High  School  Graduates,  Who  Have 
Had  no  Arithmetic  in  the  High  School.  Educational 
School  Journal,  Vol.  17,  657-661. 

Hahn,  W.  H.  and  Thorndike,  E.  L.  Some  ResulttS  in  Ad- 
dition Under  School  Conditions.  Journal  of  Educa- 
tional Psychology,  Vol.  5,  65-84. 

Kerr,  Mary,  The  Effect  of  Six  Weeks  of  Daily  Drill 
in  Addition.     Indiana   University   Studies. 

Kirby,  T.  J.  The  Results  of  Practice  Under  School 
Conditions.  Contributions  to  Education,  No.  58, 
Teachers'  College. 

The  Results  of  Three  Types  of  Drill  in  Arithmetic. 
Journal  of  Educational  Researcli,  November,  1920. 

Kirkpatrick,  E.  A,  An  Experiment  in  Memorizing  vs. 
Incidental  Learning.  Journal  of  Educational  Psy- 
chology, Vol.  5,  405-413. 

Mead,  C,  D.  An  Experiment  in  the  Fundamentals.  The 
World  Book  Co. 

Mead,  C.  D.  and  Sears,  Isabel.  Addiive,  Subtraction, 
and  Multiplicative  Division  Tested.  Journal  of  Edu- 
cational  Psychology,  Vol.  7,  261-270. 

Phillips,  F.  M.  Value  of  Daily  Drill  in  Arithmetic. 
Journal  of  Educational  Psychology,  Vol.  4,  Page 
159. 

Pyle,  W.  H.  Economic  Learning.  Journal  of  Educa- 
tional Psychology,  Vol.  4,  148-159. 

Thorndike,  E.  L.  Practice  in  the  Case  of  Addition.  Jour- 
nal of  Educational   Psychology,  Vol.  21,  483-486. 

Wilbur,  Flora.  Experimentis  mifh  Courtis  Practice  Pads. 
Indiana  University  Studies. 

Wimmer,  H.  An  Experimental  Study  of  the  Effect  of 
Drill  in  Arithmetic  Processes  under  Varying  Con- 
ditions.    Indiana   University    Studies. 


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